11 - Korea and ASEM

Summary

On 21 October 2000, Kim Dae Jung, the then president of the Republic of Korea (hereafter South Korea) declared boastfully that third Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) had ended with unprecedented success. In his Chairman's Statement he claimed that all of the twenty-five leaders recognized it as a historic milestone in the evolution of the ASEM process. French President Jacques Chirac, who held then the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union (EU), congratulated South Korea enthusiastically and pointed out that the Seoul meeting had laid a foundation for a balanced development of relations between the world's three major pillars: Asia, Europe and North America. He emphasized that ASEM provided an important momentum towards bringing balance to what he hoped would be a multipolar international system. Kim Dae Jung, reiterated similar remarks in the closing news conference claiming that “through this meeting, Asia and Europe were able to solidify the partnership for prosperity and stability in the new millennium”.

Elsewhere in the South Korean capital, Seoul police congratulated themselves on the handling of the two-day summit, which some had feared could turn into a focal point for anti-globalization protests. There were indeed unprecedented scuffles during several anti-ASEM protests and marches by thousands of students, participants from civil society and trade unionists, watched by thousands of baton-wielding riot police. With the benefit of hindsight it could be said that the parallel summit held along with ASEM 3 marked another historic milestone for the anti-globalization movement. Musing on the ASEM, it could easily be asked: “Is it this country that won the Nobel Peace Prize?” These striking images outside the ASEM venue, contrasted with those within, where leaders were feeling more relaxed to talk about prosperity and stability in Europe and Asia in a festive atmosphere occasioned by President Kim's winning of the Nobel Peace Prize, remind us of the contemporary history of South Korea. Authoritarian governments have dominated South Korea since independence in 1945 and human rights concerns were ignored under the name of prosperity and stability for more than twenty-five years.