1. On the sidelines of the Republic of Korea-Mekong foreign ministerial meeting, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha attended the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Culture House in Busan on September 1.

° After the leaders of the eleven countries agreed at the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit in 2014 to establish an ASEAN Culture House in the ROK, the House was completed after three years of construction from 2015 till 2017 on the land offered to the Foreign Ministry by the Busan city government. The Korea Foundation (KF) will run the facility.

2. Minister Kang delivered commemorative remarks, in which she mentioned that the establishment of the ASEAN Culture House in the ROK, the first of its kind in a dialogue partner of ASEAN, will mark a significant milestone toward a closer relations with ASEAN, which the ROK government is seeking as a priority. She went on to say that going forward, the Culture House is expected to serve as a hall of culture, introducing to the Korean people cultures and histories of the ten member states of ASEAN and boosting two-way people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the ROK and ASEAN.

° In his welcoming remarks, Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo expressed pleasure over the establishment of the ASEAN Culture House in Busan, adding that strong support will be rendered to the Culture House for it to become a Busan landmark connecting the ROK and ASEAN.

3. The opening ceremony brought together some 300 people, including foreign ministers of the Philippines and Laos, a co-coordinator of the ROK-Mekong foreign ministerial meeting, and other head delegates and ambassadors to the ROK from the ten member states of ASEAN; workers and students in Busan from those countries as well as Koreans whose family members are from them; and citizens of Busan, all of whom expressed keen interest in the ASEAN Culture House.


* unofficial translation