Kim proposes formation of East Asian economic cooperative body

President Kim Dae-Jung, now on a visit to Singapore, disclosed Friday the outline of his overture on the formulation of the Northeast Asian economic cooperation organization at the meeting of the leaders of Korea, China and Japan and at the ASEAN Plus Three Summit. Kim`s proposition on the new forum drew attention in that it could lay a political base for Korea, China and Japan, which have common historical and cultural backgrounds, to form an economic bloc to keep pace with the trend of regional integration of global economies.

President Kim`s initiative for establishing the East Asian economic cooperative forum was born of the necessity to integrate the Northeast and Southeast Asian economic blocs to overcome financial crises and achieve stability and common prosperity in the region. It is designed to develop the East Asian region as an economic cooperation body comparable to the European Union (EU) and the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) so that East Asia becomes one of the three global economic axes.

As an initial step, the three nations agreed to set up an East Asian research group composed of representatives from the three governments in the first half of next year.

Experts predicted that if China, Japan and Korea, all of which have great economic potential, embark on a full-fledged economic cooperation, a gigantic economic sphere will debut comparable to the American and European regional blocs. If the economic cooperative system is built, it is expected to trigger positive effects for both Asian nations and the Korean economy, related government officials noted. In the first place, annual trade volume between Korea and ASEAN will be increased by some US$30 billion, and thus Korea`s trade surplus could be further increased from the last year¡¯s level, marking US$5.5 billion. Also expected is an expanded demand for Korean construction projects in association with Vietnam`s Mekong Delta development and Indonesia`s highway construction programs.

Friday`s tripartite talks were rated as highly significant as the meeting was the first since the three nations agreed to regularize their talks and the leaders discussed a wide rage of matters, including security and economic problems, as well as issues in the social, cultural and other fields. This is why the talks did not touch on the inter-Korean question, which was usually raised at recent international gatherings. In particular, it is meaningful that the three nations have designated 2002 as the year of tripartite exchange as it marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of Korea-China diplomatic relations and 30th anniversary of official China-Japan ties. It will also be the year in which the World Cup is co-hosted by Korea and Japan, presidential spokesman Park Joon-Young said. The tripartite accord on the setup of an environmental information network to strengthen cooperation in the environmental sector is expected to provide a basis for China to prevent the yellow sand problem and maritime contamination.