Australia and South Korea hold relationship talks
Updated
South Korea and Australia will continue efforts to expand their co-operation as Asia-Pacific middle powers, when the two countries foreign ministers hold talks in the West Australian city of Perth on Friday.
i>Presenter: Linda Mottram
Speakers: Dr Kim Woosang, South Korea's ambassador to Canberra, Doctor Leonid Petrov, North Korea expert from the Australian National University
- Listen:
- Windows Media
MOTTRAM: Two middle powers, deeply complementary resources, shared values and strategic goals. And 20-billion US dollars worth of mutual trade as of October last year. Australia and South Korea must be the very closest of friends. But something has long been missing.
KIM: As I arrived here, I started to find out that not many Australian people know about Korea.
MOTTRAM: Dr Kim Woosang is South Korea's ambassador to Canberra. He's been in the job eight months. And in that time, the two countries leaders and foreign ministers have had meetings and phone calls and have exchanged letters. Lots of activity.
The two sides are slowly progressing a Free Trade Agreement. They may be sensing a new urgency, as the global financial crisis continues to take bigger and bigger bites out of the global economy.
That the relationship has been neglected and overshadowed by the giants Japan and China is nowadays a given.
Doctor Kim says there are a range of areas where the two sides should be advancing co-operation .. on key human security issues such as climate change, humanitarian and disaster relief and peace keeping. And Seoul is positive about Kevin Rudd's push for a new Asia Pacific community.
As they work towards closwer links, the framework for the relationship, Dr Kim says, should be the two nations' shared middle power status.
KIM: For those issues actually, great powers may not be in perfect position to play important role because they may unnecessarily intimidate weaker powers or neighbours. But middle powers have no problem on that, the middle power playing that role, may play very important honest broker role.
On the biggest security challenge in north Asia though, North Korea and its nuclear weapons program, the middle powers continue to rely on the great powers through the six party talks. Australia and South Korea see eye-to-eye, with Australia refusing all but humanitarian assistance to Pyongyang until it dismantles its nuclear weapons program.
The issue is certain to feature in the South Korean and Australian foreign ministers' talks. And North Korea expert from the Australian National University, Doctor Leonid Petrov, says since Pyongyang won't relinquish its nuclear program, its time for Australia to build new links with Pyongyang where currently there are virtually none.
PETROV: And North Korea gives a good example of India and Pakistan, two nations that developed their own nuclear progams who have indigenous nuclear programs and have nuclear weapons but they're still recognised by the international community, they still have good and strong bilateral links with Australia and the rest of international community so why not North Korea.
MOTTRAM: Why not North Korea, I mean the answer I suspect diplomatically is we don't trust these people they are completely different to anything else we know we will not let them have this?
PETROV: That's logical but they don't trust us either. There was a goodwill sign from North Korea side to open the embassy and stay here for eight years before closing it down based on economic reasons. There was no trade, there was no co-operation there were restrictions of movement for North Korea staff so probably the credit of trust disappeared and North Korea don't trust us either so I suppose that's the time to improve the relations, to significantly uplift this level of mutual understanding and trust and we should start somewhere.
MOTTRAM: There is no sign though that either Seoul or Canberra will change its approach to Pyongyang. And while both South Korea and Australia consider themselves better placed than most to weather the economic storm, deteriorating economic conditions, especially China's dramatic slide, are equally certain to compete for top priority issue between these complementary middle powers.
