KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 (Sin Chew Daily) — The government of South Korea proposes New Southern Policy and measures to enhance its existing policies due to changes and challenges brought forward by the COVID-19 pandemic, says Lee Chi-Beom, Ambassador of South Korea to Malaysia.

Lee said leaders of Asean countries support the new strategy unveiled by South Korea, especially Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is looking forward to having more close collaboration through the New Southern Policy.

Lee said this at the opening ceremony of webinar jointly organized by ISIS, Malaysia Scholars on Korea and Embassy of South Korea in Malaysia themed "60 years and beyond: Preparing Malaysia-Republic of Korea Relations for a New Era".

Lee said South Korea's New Southern Policy had been promoting bilateral collaboration between South Korea and Asean countries since three years ago.

"Since implementing the policy, Asean has become the top tourist destinations for Koreans. More than ten million Koreans visited Asean countries in 2019," he said.

Asean is also the second largest trade partner for South Korea after China.

Lee revealed that the 'people-to-people exchanges' between Malaysians and Koreans exceeded one million last year.

"Malaysia is one of the most popular destinations for Koreans in their oversea trips. Bilateral trade between Malaysia and South Korea was close to US$20 billion last year, making Malaysia the tenth largest trade partner of South Korea. Bilateral trade volume has increased by 6,000-fold compared to 1965.

"We are paying close attention to the effort made to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. South Korea is the first country which contributes to funds to fight COVID-19 in Asean," he said.

South Korea started various joint projects worth US$34 million this year, including human capital development and crisis management, he said.

Lee also said South Korea provided the health ministry of Malaysia 23,000 sets of swab test kits last month. It will also provide personal protective equipment in future.

Muhyiddin acknowledged that Malaysia gained from the support extended by South Korea on COVID-19 screening during the Asean-Korea summit, Lee said.

"Both countries will be extending collaborations in new sectors," he said.

The New Southern Policy has proposed comprehensive collaboration in public health as its priority in post-COVID-19 era.