Page 206 - 2018 Defense White Paper

| ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) | Since 2010, the MND has been

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attending the ADMM-Plus every year. In the speech at the 5 ADMM-Plus held in Singapore
in 2018, the ROK Minister of National Defense presented the ROK government’s position
regarding the complete denuclearization and establishment of permanent peace on the Korean

Peninsula. The Minister emphasized that the ROK government was faithfully implementing the
Inter-Korean Agreement in the Military Domain, and called for the international community’s
support and cooperation for the ROK’s position. The ROK Minister of National Defense also

held separate bilateral and multilateral ministerial meetings with the counterparts from the U.S.,
China, Japan, Russia, and ASEAN member countries on the occasion of the ADMM-Plus.
The Minister of National Defense actively put efforts to engage in defense diplomacy with

four neighboring countries and strengthen defense cooperation with ASEAN member states to
implement the New Southern Policy on the defense front.
Between 2014 and 2016, the ROK and Cambodia co-chaired the Experts’ Working Group
(EWG) on peacekeeping operations, one of the six EWGs of the ADMM-Plus. Since 2017, the

ROK and Singapore have co-chaired the Maritime Security EWG.

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The 5 ADMM-Plus (October 2018)

| ROK–ASEAN Vice Defense Ministerial Talks | The inaugural ROK–ASEAN Vice

Defense Ministerial Talks took place during the SDD in Seoul in 2017. Delegates from ASEAN
member countries agreed on the need for defense cooperation between the ROK and ASEAN,
and expressed support for the proposal to continue holding the Vice Ministerial talks regularly.

In the 2018 ROK–ASEAN Vice Defense Ministerial Talks, the representatives discussed ways to
enhance defense industrial cooperation between the ROK and ASEAN, and concurred that the
countries should strive to make defense industrial cooperation mutually benef icial.

204 Chapter 5 Development of the ROK–U.S. Alliance, and Expansion of Defense Exchanges and Cooperation