SEOUL, 7 July 2014 – Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Raul S. Hernandez paid a visit for the first time on Monday, 7 July 2014 to the ASEAN-Korea Centre (AKC) Secretariat and the ASEAN Hall in central Seoul.

Ambassador Hernandez was welcomed by AKC Secretary-General Chung Hae-moon to his office, where they discussed the growing relations between ASEAN and Korea and the Centre’s projects for the rest of the year.

Secretary-General Chung congratulated Ambassador Hernandez on his assumption of the six-month rotating chairmanship of the ASEAN Committee in Seoul (ACS) starting in July. He also noted that the Philippines is due to second a senior official who will serve as head of the AKC’s Trade and Investment Unit for three years from January 2015.

Ambassador Hernandez also visited the ASEAN Hall, where cultural items and tourism materials, which were given, donated or on loan from the ASEAN member countries, such as lamps made by Cebu-based furniture designer Kenneth Cobonpue, were displayed.

Secretary-General Chung also introduced to the Ambassador some of his staff, including AKC officer and editor Mark Ysla, a MA International Studies graduate of Sogang University.

The ASEAN-Korea Centre was established as an intergovernmental organization with ten ASEAN Member States and Korea as its members in March 2009, the year which marked the 20th anniversary of Dialogue Partnership between ASEAN and Korea.

It was founded in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the Foreign Ministers of Korea and the 10 ASEAN Member States at the 11th ASEAN-Republic of Korea (ROK) Summit in November 2007. The MOU was ratified or accepted by all Member States of the Centre in November 2008.