Korea will establish a mission dedicated to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Jakarta in the first half of next year, President Lee Myung-bak said Thursday.

“In order to strengthen economic cooperation with the increasingly important ASEAN, I will dispatch an ambassador to Jakarta who will deal exclusively with ASEAN affairs,” Lee was quoted by news reports as saying at the 2011 ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Bali, Indonesia.

“I hope that the new ASEAN mission will contribute greatly to communication and cooperation between South Korea and ASEAN.”

The ASEAN diplomatic mission is expected to be set up under the Korean embassy to Indonesia in Jakarta where the ASEAN secretariat is located.

Cheong Wa Dae said the diplomatic mission in Indonesia will be coordinating ASEAN affairs with cooperation of Korean embassies in the region.

Lee also said that he will make use of the free trade agreement between Korea and ASEAN to achieve the $150 billion bilateral trade volume target earlier than the initially scheduled year of 2015. The FTA between the two took effect in 2007 and the trade volume between Korea and ASEAN grew 13 percent on average annually, Lee said. Lee and state heads of ASEAN expect the bilateral trade volume to hit a record high this year.

ASEAN is Korea’s second-largest trade partner after China and the second-largest investment destination after the European Union.

Abundant with natural resources such as oil, natural gas and forests and located on key maritime routes for raw materials shipments, ASEAN is a strategically important region for the Korean economy.

In Bali, Lee attended the summit with ASEAN, followed by a meeting between ASEAN and South Korea, China and Japan on Friday. At the summit, Lee and other leaders pledged to work together to boost trade. On Saturday, he will attend a meeting of the East Asia Summit (EAS) forum of 18 members, which include two newcomers Russia and the U.S., ASEAN’s 10 members, Australia, India and New Zealand.

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to attend the meeting for the first time.

Obama’s attendance is a focus of attention due to his possible meeting with Lee to talk about the free trade agreement between the U.S. and Korea. The trade pact, which was approved by the U.S. Congress last month, has been stalled in the Korean parliament.

On Sunday, Lee will head to the Philippines for a three-day state visit and hold talks with President Benigno Aquino III about developing bilateral relations, boosting trade and investment and other cooperation.

During the visit, the two countries plan to sign a series of agreements on cooperation projects such as the establishment of multi-industry clusters and a coal-fired power plant in the Philippines and provision of economic development cooperation funds and aid to the Southeast Asian nation.

The trip also includes a visit to a war memorial, a meeting with South Korean residents there and a business forum.

By Kim Yoon-mi and news reports
(yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)