1. The Republic of Korea was elevated to a full dialogue partner status following the decision of the 24th AMM in Kuala Lumpur in July 1991. Prior to this, and since the establishment of ASEAN-ROK relations in November 1989, ROK had been a sectoral dialogue partner covering cooperation in areas such as trade, investment and tourism with possible expansion of relations to other areas such as development cooperation, transfer of technology and human resources development (HRD).
   
2. During the year under review, ASEAN and ROK registered significant progress in the area of development cooperation covering a wide spectrum of projects in the fields of finance and banking, science and technology, trade and tourism. Sixteen projects identified earlier when ROK was a sectoral dialogue partner and prioritized subsequently at the Fourth ASEAN-ROK JMC, for implementation in the FY 1991 and 1992 have either been successfully completed or in their final stage of completion.
   
3. The ROK has also requested ASEAN to submit new project proposals to be considered for implementation during the second half of FY 1992 (June - December 1992) and for the subsequent years. To date, ROK has submitted 9 new project proposals. ASEAN, however, has yet to do so. In this regards, the 3rd Meeting of the 25th ASEAN Standing Committee requested all relevant ASEAN Committees to submit new project proposals for implementation under development cooperation with the ROK.
   
4. With a view to enhancing communication facilities among ASEAN member countries and with the ASEAN Secretariat, a contract agreement between the Secretary-General of the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Directors-General and Samsung have been signed in Jakarta in June 1992. Samsung will install an Electronic Mail System which is a network of computer system connecting seven offices of the six ASEAN National Secretariats and ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. The project is expected to be completed in mid 1992.
   
5. To mark with her new status as a full dialogue partner of ASEAN, ROK announced at the last PMC (6+1 session) an increase to US$5 million in her contribution towards the ASEAN-ROK Special Cooperation Fund to finance development cooperation projects for ASEAN for the period 1990-1995.

For more information, please refer to the project details