At the meeting, held on the sidelines of the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit in Busan, Moon stressed the importance of South Korean-Thai relations and thanked the Thai prime minister for his support in advancing Korea’s relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“Thailand is the most important partner in our government’s New Southern Policy. (I) hope for the cooperation between the two countries to expand into diverse areas such as defense and defense industry, water management, science and technology, infrastructure,” Moon said.

Citing Thailand’s high economic growth rate and the “Thailand 4.0” policy, which includes the Eastern Economic Corridor or EEC development plan, Moon also highlighted the Thai government’s development drive and the opportunity the country represents. The EEC plan is aimed at laying the foundation for greater investment and the development of advanced industries in Thailand.

“I hope to make this an opportunity for sharing ways to increase cooperation and to share vision through the two cooperation framework with other ASEAN leaders,” the Thai prime minister said, referring to the ASEAN-Korea and Mekong-Korea summits.

Thailand is co-chair of both summits.

The Thai leader went on to stress the importance of closer cooperation with Korea in achieving shared goals.

After the summit, the two sides also signed memorandums of understanding on science and technology, Thailand’s EEC and immigration policies.

With the science and technology memorandum, the two countries agreed to expand the scope of cooperation in related fields to include food technology and biotechnology, high-tech areas including satellites, and research on nuclear reactors.

Concerning the EEC, the two countries agreed to exchange information and establish a support system to guide Korean companies that wish to invest in the EEC project. The immigration memorandum calls for increased cooperation to prevent illegal immigration and employment.

The septet was announced as the winner of Favorite Duo or Group – Pop/Rock in the 2019 AMA show held at Microsoft Theater in California on Sunday night (US time).

It marks the second consecutive year the band has been awarded at the AMAs, considered one of the three major pop music awards in the US.

Last year, BTS was awarded Favorite Social Artist at the annual award ceremony, becoming the first Korean artists to win an award at the AMAs.

BTS didn’t join the ceremony in the US, but the band expressed its special thanks to fans in a video message.

“We are so honored to receive such an important, meaningful award,” the youngest member Jungkook said.

The team’s leader attributed the band’s feat to its fans, famously known as “ARMY.”

“We couldn’t have really done it without (your) love and support,” RM said, adding that, “We will try our best to live up to it and will try hard and work hard.”

BTS competed with Jonas Brothers and Panic! At The Disco for the 2019 award.

The band has also been nominated again for the Favorite Social Artist and Tour of the Year awards at the 2019 AMAs, with the winners not yet announced. (Yonhap)

An acquaintance of the 28-year-old found her dead at around 6 p.m. at her home in Seoul’s Gangnam Ward and notified the police and firefighters, the police said.

The police said they are currently looking into the exact cause of and reason for the death, keeping the possibility of suicide in consideration.

Goo debuted in 2008 as a member of the female K-pop band, which enjoyed sensational popularity before the band went on hiatus about a decade later.

Goo expanded her K-pop career by going solo, also branching out into acting and reality shows, but she put her entertainment career on hold late last year when she became entangled in a revenge pornography case with her ex-boyfriend.

The former lover, a hairdresser, threatened Goo with releasing an intimate video of her in September last year as the two fought in the wake of a breakup.

The man said he would circulate the video “to end (her) entertainment career” and contacted news outlets over the video, although he eventually did not leak it.

In August, he was given a suspended jail term by a lower court on account of the threat and other criminal behavior.

The case led to intense online rumors and hate comments against Goo, causing her to brave the media on her way to a police interrogation.

In May, She made news headlines after being found unconscious at her home following a suicide attempt.

In an interview with a Japanese magazine later the same month, she said, “I am recovering. … I had been in agony over a number of overlapping issues. … But from now on, I will steel my heart and try to be healthy.”

Goo’s sudden death came less than two months after the death of another young K-pop diva, Sulli. The 25-year-old actress and member of female band f(x) was found dead at her home in mid-October in an apparent suicide, sending a shock wave through the country.

In the years before her death, Sulli had been the subject of intense online hate comments.

The two were known to be close friends, and Goo mourned Sulli’s death by sharing photo images of herself with Sulli on her Instagram account, saying, “Jin-ri (will be able to) to do as she wishes in the world over there.” Jin-ri is Sulli’s legal name.

Goo recently resumed her music career, releasing a Japanese single, “Midnight Queen,” in the Japanese music market on Nov. 13 and staging a concert tour covering four Japanese cities from Nov. 14-19. (Yonhap)

The subway is a wise choice if you wish to bypass the streets near Bexco, the venue for the summit and many of the events.

Traffic around Bexco will be restricted before and during the summit. Centum 3-ro, the road leading to the Bexco entrance, will be restricted from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Tuesday, with the Bexco bus stop being temporarily shut down, and the road leading to Centum City Station from the Bexco entrance will be intermittently restricted until 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

The subway route to Bexco — which sits between Centum City and Bexco stations — would require a transfer to Line No. 2 at Seomyeon Station, which incidentally is among the busiest, booziest streets in Busan. It is also where the 2019 ASEAN-ROK Food Street will be until Wednesday, at the Busan Cultural Complex Center for Youth or Norimaru.

The anticipation for the event was apparent from the packed venue even before any of the booths opened the next morning, with people lining up as early as three hours before the ticket booth opened at 1 p.m., despite the light drizzle.

While the main convention center at Bexco was largely empty, a flock of visitors were headed toward the auditorium, where a long line of people waited to get into ASEAN-ROK Fashion Week. Even though it was two hours before the doors opened, men and women — mostly in their 20s and 30s — had already formed a long line.

The fashion week, which opened Friday, continues through Monday and features collections with various themes, including Korean traditional hanbok, and collaboration between Busan-based designers and young designers based elsewhere. The highlight of ASEAN-ROK Fashion Week is a fashion show featuring designers from Korea and ASEAN member states, which takes place Monday from 1-3 p.m.

Even before the official kickoff of the summit, armed guards and armored trucks were seen patrolling the grounds. The entrance to the Bexco Center 1 was strictly restricted, as the pangovernmental security team — consisting of officials from the Presidential Security Service, the National Police Agency, the National Fire Agency, the Ministry of National Defense, the National Intelligence Service and the Korea Coast Guard — had commenced work Nov. 15.

The team is in charge of ensuring the safety of the delegates from the 10 ASEAN states, dispatching helicopters whenever a top-level figure from one of the participating nations is on the move and sweeping the area with drones and automated reconnaissance vehicles.

Information robots, like those used in 2018 during the PyeongChang Winter Games, were dispatched across the exhibition center to help visitors around Bexco.

“I will do my best, as the mayor of the host city, to make this summit more than just a one-time event. Through the event, Busan can support peace and co-prosperity for Korea and the ASEAN nations,” he added.

While the summit is going on, the government and the host city have many extra cultural activities planned and are inviting the wider public to take part.

“This summit is more than just an event focused on the leaders and attendees of conferences. It is a festival for all Koreans and those from ASEAN nations,” Oh said. “Please, visit Busan!”

Oh also introduced his city as a major venue for various international sports events. The LPGA International Busan was held last month, and the East Asian Football Championship and Ultimate Fighting Championship will take place in Busan in December, followed by the World Table Tennis Championships in March. The city’s next big goal is to host the 2030 Busan World Expo.

“Busan aims to become a maritime hub of Northeast Asia where its people are happy. This is the goal of Busan. It will be more than just the second-largest city in Korea. It will develop as a global city,” he said.

Mentioning the city’s global status, the mayor also touched on the planned expansion of Gimhae International Airport. Years ago, after discussions that began in 2006, the central government decided to expand the airport in response to the growing demand for air travel in the region.

However, a regional joint inspection committee consisting of authorities and experts from Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province deemed the airport expansion “unsuitable.” The committee says a new airport should be built in the southeastern region.

“Launching a new airport in the southeastern region is a necessary step for the advance of Korea’s logistics, transportation and tourism. In case of an emergency, is there a substitutional gateway airport of the Incheon Airport in Korea?”

“By opening a new path in the sky with a southeastern gateway airport, its astounding results will spread across the nation,” he said.

The mayor also addressed the matter of youth employment. The city’s youth population –that is, the population of adults under the age of 35 — is 710,000. In three straight months to October, the city’s total employment rate was 44.6 percent, while the youth unemployment rate was 7.9 percent.

“Youth employment measures require more than just fragmentary support, but rather an endless communication with young people,” the mayor said.

In 2018, around 60,000 young adults left the city. Considering that fact, Oh proclaimed a Youth Policy Road Map in July, setting aside 492.1 billion won to implement 106 measures over the three years till 2022.

“The most important part of the road map is about youth employment. Policies (to benefit) youth should (proceed) in stages: strengthening the employment ability of the unemployed, practically offering (jobs)and connecting employees with jobs, and maintaining employment so that employees can be employed for a long time,” he said.

“A city where young people are happy is a city with opportunities and entertainment. It should also have a balance between residential conditions and a city environment,” Oh said. “To make Busan a place where young people return to and stay, a policy focused on a certain area cannot be enough.”

Oh, who was born in Busan and took office in June 2018, believes the city needs to be a place where young people are happy.

“Based on this idea, I will come up with policies that satisfy young people’s requests, through endless communication with experts and young people themselves, generating a cooperative system of youth policies for the city.”

“ASEAN is the world’s youngest and most dynamic economic community. To transform its infinite potential into sustainable prosperity, it is crucial to increase connectivity in the region and cooperate in high-tech industries,” President Moon Jae-in said in an article he contributed to The Korea Herald last week.

“If we enhance cooperation in transport infrastructure, smart cities and advanced science and technology — Korea’s strengths — we could jointly nurture innovative capabilities to respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

He went on to say, “Using free trade to expand commerce, fostering small and medium-sized enterprises for an inclusive economy, and promoting green growth, such as an eco-friendly bio-industry — these are also areas where Korea and ASEAN can work together.”

Since ASEAN and Korea established diplomatic relations in 1989, the two sides have grown to become key economic partners and their trade volume has steadily increased.

ASEAN is South Korea’s second-largest trade partner, and Korea was ASEAN’s fifth-largest trade partner last year. Also, Southeast Asia is Korea’s third-largest investment destination, as the number of Korean companies advancing into the region has continued to rise. The number of Korean companies setting up business in the bloc stood at 1,292 last year, up from 850 in 2014, according to the Trade Ministry.

Participants pose for a group photo during the third Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Summit in Bangkok on Nov. 4 (Cheong Wa Dae)

Korean tech titan Samsung Electronics has operated the biggest mobile phone factory in Hanoi, Vietnam, since 2009, producing most of the smartphone products that Vietnam exports worldwide.

Another Korean tech giant, LG Electronics, makes television screens in a $1.5 billion factory in the port city of Haiphong, Vietnam. The region has also served as a global production hub for TVs, mobile phones, washing machines and air conditioners.

Automakers are now eyeing Indonesia as one of the largest auto markets in the region, with the world’s fourth-largest population and annual economic growth of more than 5 percent.

In June, Hyundai Motor signed an agreement with Singapore’s major land transport company ComfortDelGro to provide 2,000 Ioniq Hybrid vehicles by 2020, expanding its eco-friendly car models in the nation in cooperation with taxi and car-sharing companies.

As for Korea’s largest steelmaker, Posco has production plants in Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar.

In March, Posco Chairman Choi Jeong-woo chose Southeast Asia for his first overseas trip since taking office last year. He visited Krakatau Posco, a joint venture between Posco and Indonesian state-owned steelmaker Krakatau Steel. Krakatau Posco — which opened in December 2013 as the first Korean steel mill overseas — is now capable of producing 3 million tons of steel annually.

During the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit in Busan, Korea and the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states will adopt a joint vision statement on coexistence and prosperity.

The statement will suggest directions for cooperation in different fields, such as the development of strategic partnerships between Korea and ASEAN, the establishment of peace in the region, how to strengthen partnerships in social and cultural areas, as well as cooperation on sustainable development.

Connectivity — a keyword for ASEAN due to its diverse demographics and cultures — will be the focus of discussion during the multilateral summits, according to Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.

“ASEAN has this vision of becoming a truly integrated ASEAN community. That means connecting, whether it’s software, hardware, infrastructure, aviation or water resources management,” she said.

Korea expects to explore new horizons in connectivity and share its expertise and experience with the bloc, the minister said.

Seeking to gain momentum on the occasion of the international gathering, Cheong Wa Dae plans to initiate President Moon Jae-in’s New Southern Policy 2.0, which aims to broaden the country’s diplomatic horizons further with the Southeast Asian countries and India.

In November 2017, Moon unveiled the New Southern Policy with the aim of elevating Korea’s relations with ASEAN and India to the level that it enjoys with the four regional powers — the US, China, Japan and Russia.

The government also seeks to expand its economic territory by boosting cooperation with ASEAN and tapping the region’s growth potential.

The ASEAN region is Korea’s second-largest trading partner, right after China. The Korean government expects to increase its trade volume with the bloc to $200 billion by 2020, from $159.7 billion last year.

As part of efforts to strengthen economic coordination and decrease Seoul’s reliance on traditional trading partners, Korea seeks conclude free trade agreements with Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia.

In October, Korea and Indonesia concluded talks on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which is equivalent to a free trade agreement with a broader focus.

In bilateral summits with ASEAN leaders, Moon will discuss ways to work together in infrastructure sectors including smart cities, water supplies and drainage management. Cooperation on defense, official development aid and job training will also be part of their agendas.

The Korean government expects bilateral meetings to yield substantive results that will enable people in the concerned countries to enjoy closer ties by forging accords such as an “open skies” agreement, which would liberalize the aviation industry, and a double-tax avoidance treaty.