A group of Asian political parties launched a forum with members of the media Thursday in an effort to promote awareness of its activities and forge closer ties within the region.

Since its launch in 2000, the International Conference of Asian Political Parties has sought to boost cooperation and exchanges across the continent, with more than 370 parties in 53 countries now eligible to participate in its activities.

The first meeting of the ICAPP Media Forum opened in Seoul earlier in the day.

"Interdependence between politics and journalism is indispensable nourishment for political development as political democracy expands along with the increased roles and responsibilities of political parties," said Hwang Jin-ha, secretary-general of South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party, shortly after being elected co-chairperson of the forum.

He added, "The ICAPP media forum will promote mutual understanding and communication among ICAPP political parties, governments and peoples in Asia."

Carmen Pedrosa, the other co-chairperson and senior columnist of the Philippine Star, noted the negative influence colonialism had on building an Asian community.

"What is true of Asia is that we don't know each other," she said in her opening remarks. "We were all colonized at one time or another and that separated us."

Referring to the theme of the meeting, "Cooperation to build an Asian community," she added, "If there is anything that the theme says about knowing and building an Asian community, it is finally shedding all the colonial influences that wear on us in our history."

The forum is comprised of the members of the ICAPP standing committee, which is made up of the leading political parties of 23 countries, as well as one journalist from each country represented in the committee, including South Korea, India and Iran.

In his congratulatory remarks, Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul called for trust-building at the regional and subregional levels, saying that is the key to building an Asian community. He especially noted the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative proposed by President Park Geun-hye.

"The initiative aspires to build a regional structure of trust by accumulating practices and habits of dialogue and cooperation in soft security areas where cooperation is relatively easy such as nuclear safety, disaster relief and health security and based on this, the initiative aims to expand cooperation to encompass hard security issues, thereby creating sustainable peace," he said. (Yonhap)