Showing 1 - 6 of 6
Recasting Korea–Asean relations
Oped, Suh Jeong-in, Published on 03/12/2025
» At the Asean–Republic of Korea (ROK) Commemorative Summit in Kuala Lumpur in October, President Lee Jae-myung presented a five-year vision for the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP).
US tariff shock upsides for Asean
Oped, Suh Jeong In, Published on 24/04/2025
» 'Let the dust from the White House settle first," said former Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon in an interview with Korean media. A Southeast Asian figure I met during an Asean Regional Forum (ARF) Experts and Eminent Persons (EEPs) meeting held recently in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, expressed a similar sentiment.
South Korea's Indo-Pacific policy
News, Suh Jeon-in, Published on 13/12/2022
» President Yoon Suk-yeol announced the Republic of Korea's Strategy for a Free, Peaceful, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific Region (hereafter Indo-Pacific Strategy), and Korea-Asean Solidarity Initiative (KASI) at the Asean-Korea Summit held in November in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. His core message at the summit was simple: Korea aims to upgrade and elevate its partnership with Asean to the next level. In response, Asean leaders welcomed President Yoon's initiative. The significance of Korea's recent diplomatic move should be analysed in diverse aspects.
Path to economic progress: A tale of two nations
News, Peerasit Kamnuansilpa & Le Anh Khanh Minh, Published on 17/04/2020
» The present pandemic, which has generated concerns over Asean countries' economic sustainability and global food supplies, reminds us that Thailand and Vietnam are primarily agrarian societies, competing with each other as major rice-exporting countries. In the 1960s, both were classified as economically less developed countries before moving a notch higher to "developing countries". Presently, both countries are ranked as middle-income, although Thailand is slightly ahead since its advancement to the category's upper tier in 2011, while Vietnam has remained in the lower tier since 2013. It is expected that Thailand will not be able to progress much over the next 20 years, while Vietnam could achieve high-income status by 2045. Still, this relative decline is not inevitable.
Thailand's 'wicked' development trap
News, Peerasit Kamnuansilpa and Le Anh Khan Minh, Published on 19/09/2019
» For almost five decades now, Thailand has been a victim of the middle-income trap. From the 1970s to the 2000s, the country was ranked by the World Bank as lower-middle-income, advancing to upper-middle status in 2011. Considering the ongoing political uncertainty and weak governance institutions, the prognosis is that Thailand will likely remain at this ranking for many years. This has become a "wicked problem" for the country's economic and social development.
Disasters discriminate. Disaster response should not
Asia focus, Bharati Sadasivam in Istanbul, Published on 15/10/2018
» When landslides devastated parts of Khatlon province in Tajikistan in early 2009, the village of Baldzhuvan was better prepared than most. Bibi Rahimova, a local community organiser, had spent years alerting people to the dangers of living beneath unstable terrain. When the hillside finally gave way, all of Baldzhuvan's 35 households were evacuated safely, and no lives were lost.