Page 55 - AEI Insights 2020 - Vol. 6, Issue 1

AEI-Insights: An International Journal of Asia-Europe Relations
ISSN: 2289-800X, Vol. 6, Issue 1, January 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37353/aei-insights.vol6.issue1.4

‘NEW REGIONALISM’: ASEAN – REPUBLIC OF KOREA (ROK)
PARTNERSHIP IN SOCIO-CULTURAL AND EDUCATION
EXCHANGES

Nur Nazifah Ahmad Rosland

United Nation Development Programme (UNDP),
Malaysia

bzie98@yahoo.com

Abstract
ASEAN and South Korea have achieved substantial progress in political and economic
relationship since 1989, when they first established a dialogue partnership. In 2010, their
relationship further developed into a ‘Strategic Partnership in Peace and Prosperity’. ASEAN
and South Korea share a common interest in promoting peace, stability, and prosperity in the
region and beyond. ‘New regionalism’ theory has become current interest in regionalism and
is undoubtedly one of the important trends in contemporary international relations. This theory
focuses more on ‘deep integration’ between countries. ASEAN and South Korea emerged from
the same root of colonization and escalated to become the second largest trading partner with
its relationship thriving in tourism and educational sector. In this study, I focus on the
development of ‘new regionalism’ in ASEAN and Republic of South Korea partnership as well
as their regional integration efforts in the area of socio-culture and education. The study
contributes to the existing knowledge of regionalism between ASEAN-Korea; the mutual
relationship which emerged from economic and political-security into the area of socio-culture
and education.
Keywords: ASEAN, Republic of South Korea, socio-culture, education, new regionalism

Introduction
For more than two decades, ASEAN and Korea have strengthened mutual cooperation in
various sectors. These two have worked together to enhance regional, political and security and
became a part of a family in ARF, APT, ADMM and so on. They have worked together to
increase economic sector within the region. ASEAN is now Korea’s second most important
trading bloc and Korea’s ODA has become an important development resource for low-income
ASEAN member states. Moving forward in socio-cultural and academic exchanges areas, the
Korean wave has penetrated the lives of many people in ASEAN, and some five million
Koreans that have visited the member states annually. Furthermore, various forms of academic
cooperation between ASEAN and Korea are actively being implemented as large numbers of
scholars and students are visiting each country and studying to understand the dynamic of these
regions.

th
ASEAN and ROK were colonized by the Japanese in the 19 century. Japan, after winning
wars against China and Russia, forcibly annexed Korea and instituted colonial rule in 1910
until the Japan defeat in WWII in 1945. Since then, like all other countries after colonization,
ROK began to develop themselves. During the 1960s, Korea was one of the poorest countries
in the world with per capita income of less than $100 (Choe & Malarcher, 2011). Korea then

55