1. The 2018 meeting of heads of the Republic of Korea’s diplomatic missions in the South Asia-Pacific region took place in Bangkok, the Kingdom of Thailand, on August 31. It was chaired by Deputy Minister for Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yoon Soon-gu and brought together 31 mission heads.

2. The mission heads reviewed the progress in the implementation of the New Southern Policy and relevant achievements. They also exchanged in-depth views on the greater role that the ROK’s diplomatic missions in the South Asia-Pacific region should play and ways to step up communication between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters and the overseas missions in order to respond actively to the rapidly changing regional and global situations.

3. The mission heads put forward a variety of policy suggestions on ways to serve the ROK’s national interests to the extent possible in such areas as foreign affairs, security, trade, investment and culture amid the rapidly changing international situation; and agreed to step up diplomacy through which to constantly seek out areas for cooperation suitable to the characteristics of individual countries and regions, and to work to broaden the scope of the New Southern Policy.

° The mission heads also discussed development-based strategies for implementing the New Southern Policy, agreeing to reinforce the ROK’s grant aid system in a bid to efficiently carry out its official development assistance (ODA) policy under the New Southern Policy.

4. In addition, the meeting served as an opportunity to share the progress in innovation efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; to discuss tasks that should be conducted to innovate the overseas diplomatic missions and ways to implement them; and to learn about challenges facing overseas missions and to gather their suggestions.

5. The meeting of the mission heads is seen to carry significance in that as the ROK government is paving the way for implementing its New Southern Policy, including by setting up a relevant special committee under the Presidential Commission on Policy Planning and a policy implementation team on August 28, as well as under the current global circumstance where a new diplomatic paradigm and strategic approaches are called for, the mission heads at the diplomatic forefront gathered together to explore ways to move forward the ROK’s diplomacy toward the South Asia-Pacific region and its New Southern Policy.

* unofficial translation