SEOUL, 4 April 2016 - The ASEAN Committee in Seoul (ACS) officially met as a body with Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon for the first time in four years over a working lunch held on Monday, 4 June 2016 at the Lotte Hotel in Myeongdong district in central Seoul.

Mayor Park, who is currently serving a four-year term from 2014, lauded ASEAN and South Korea's close ties and shared history, including more than 25 years of dialogue partnership. He noted how ASEAN is South Korea's second biggest trading partner and its favorite travel destination, with the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam among the top six biggest outbound markets. "As the capital of Korea, Seoul is also pursuing more active exchanges and cooperation with cities in the ASEAN region, especially in fields such as public transportation and waterworks," Mayor Park told the eight ambassadors and two deputy chiefs of mission from ASEAN embassies present, including the Philippine Embassy's First Secretary and Consul General Roderico C. Atienza. Noting the sister-city ties with Jakarta, Hanoi, Bangkok, and Vientiane, Mayor Park expressed hopes to initiate "closer ties" with other ASEAN cities. "And based on these closer ties, we hope to establish a channel through which we can facilitate more practical exchanges and cooperation," he said. "We need more frequent contact. We need more sharing of culture and policies." The ACS Chair, Ambassador of Viet Nam Pham Huu Chi, agreed. "We, ASEAN Ambassadors, have met you individually on many occasions, but this for the first time since 2012, we sit together for a working luncheon," he said, adding the meeting was set up "to strengthen our personal and working relationship as well as partnership between our cities." When some ambassadors raised certain issues encountered by their nationals residing in Seoul, Mayor Park suggested that the other ASEAN countries try to organize with the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) a town-hall meeting, such as those held by the Filipino and Mongolian communities with him. There are a total of 330,000 citizens of ASEAN countries living in Korea, including some 55,000 from the Philippines. Mayor Park also recalled his visits to various ASEAN capitals, including Manila "for several times". He stated, with apparent pride, how he was recognized with the 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service for his 30-year social and human rights activism that contributed to the development of Korean democracy. He has yet to visit Brunei, Malaysia and Myanmar. Also present at the ACS luncheon were Ambassador Kim Chang-beom, MOFA representative to the SMG, Brunei Ambassador Dato Mohd Rosli Sabtu, Cambodia Counsellor Oung Bophal, Indonesia Ambassador John Aristianto Prasetio, Lao Ambassador Khamsouay Keodalavong, Malaysian Ambassador Dato' Rohana Ramli, Myanmar Ambassador Thura U Thet Oo Maung, Singapore Ambassador Yip Wei Kiat and Thai Ambassador Sarun Charoensuwan. Like ASEAN Committees in other cities around the world, the ASEAN Committee in Seoul gathers all the heads of the ASEAN diplomatic and consular missions resident in Seoul in order to coordinate their common actions, policies and initiatives vis-a-vis the host government for greater effect. The Philippines last took up the ACS chairmanship for the second half (H2) of 2014, organizing events marking the 25th anniversary of the ASEAN-Korea dialogue partnership on that year, including the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit hosted by President Park in early December 2014.