1. First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam, together with his Indonesian counterpart Abdurrahman Mohammad Fachir, held the first Republic of Korea-Indonesia strategic dialogue in Jakarta on February 6. In the meeting, the two ranking diplomats exchanged in-depth views on ways to work more closely together in such sectors as defense, economy, consular and social affairs, labor and culture, as well as on the international stage; and the situations on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast and Southeast Asia.

° The strategic dialogue came pursuant to the agreement reached between the leaders of the two countries during President Jokowi’s state visit to the ROK in May 2016 to establish a high-working-level strategic dialogue mechanism on foreign affairs. In the strategic dialogue, the two ranking diplomats reviewed the progress in the implementation of the follow-up on the bilateral summit talks held in May 2016 and discussed ways to work more closely together across the board.

2. Vice Ministers Lim and Fachir noted with appreciation that the ROK and Indonesia have been seeing advances in their relations in a wide range of sectors since forging strategic partnership in 2006, and engaging in high-level exchanges, including President Jokowi’s state visit to the ROK in May 2016 and National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun’s official visit to Indonesia in January 2017.

3. Vice Minister Lim, taking note of the smooth progress in bilateral defense cooperation, such as in the submarine and joint fighter development projects, asked the Indonesian government to pay attention to and support efforts to step up cooperation in defense industry.

4. The two Vice Ministers agreed to seek an early conclusion of the negotiations for a further liberalization of the ROK-ASEAN FTA in order to break the declining streak of the ROK-Indonesia trade and increase it, as well as a thorough implementation of the projects agreed upon at the bilateral summit talks in May 2016.

5. The two sides agreed to work closely together to expedite the conclusion of a visa waiver agreement for holders of diplomatic and official passports and the renewal of the memorandum of understanding on the employment permit system. They also agreed to increase educational, academic and people-to-people exchanges.

6. Vice Minister Lim extended appreciation to the Indonesian government for its contribution to the international community’s efforts to pressure North Korea across the board in order to resolve its nuclear issue, asking it to render active cooperation and support at the ASEAN meetings in 2017. Vice Minister Fachir, calling North Korea’s nuclear test a violation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, stated that Indonesia will thoroughly implement Security Council Resolution 2321.

7. Vice Ministers Lim and Fachir agreed to work closely together to deepen and advance the ROK-ASEAN strategic partnership in 2017, the 50th anniversary of the founding of ASEAN and the Year of ASEAN-Korea Cultural Exchange.

8. The two ranking diplomats noted with appreciation that with its framework of cooperation set, the three-year-old MIKTA is increasingly contributing to the international community. They agreed to step up the ROK-Indonesia cooperation within the framework of MIKTA, which will hold its ninth foreign ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministerial meeting in Bonn on February 16 and 17.

9. On February 6, Vice Minister Lim met with ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh, during which the Vice Minister proposed increasing ROK-ASEAN exchanges in such areas as political and social affairs, economy and culture in 2017, the 50th anniversary of the founding of ASEAN and the Year of ASEAN-Korea Cultural Exchange. He also asked for ASEAN’s continued coordination on the North Korean nuclear issue and others concerning the Korean Peninsula.


* unofficial translation