Study on Korea’s Policy towards Central Asian States since 1991

It is likely to evaluate that Korea’s policy towards Central Asia has been successful so far and especially the bilateral relations of Korea with each CAS appears ever stable and close since its diplomatic relations established at the early 1990s. This study is focused on exploring Korea’s policy towards Central Asian states, and with emphasis on the bilateral relations with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan since 1991 respectively. The main purpose to review so far Korea’s Central Asian policy is to understand objective circumstances of relations with Korea and CAS and also present possible policy cooperation with them in order to develop their partnership into the more firm and mutually beneficial level. Historically, Korea and Central Asia had actively engaged in trade and exchanged cultures with each other since the 7th century. Korea and Central Asia need to recognize such common goal and to recover the ancient tradition of economic and cultural exchanges. Moreover, Korea and Central Asia are in the similar situation in that both of them are relatively small countries surrounded by neighboring superpowers, that both declared denuclearization or nuclear weapon free zone, and that both need to find a partner whose economy is complementary with their own. Especially, the Koreans living in Central Asia are valuable assets for future cooperation between Korea and Central Asia. All of these factors necessitate medium- and long-term cooperation between Korea and Central Asia in many aspects. Bilateral cooperation should also be customized according to the specific situations in which each party lie. The important recognition should be made about the indispensable role of both governments to institutionalize cooperation and to form a friendly environment in encouraging private economic cooperation and minimizing the risk of investment and trade. The “First Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum” held in November 2007 was an opportunity to discuss the pending issues of their cooperation and to push the cooperative system to the point of its institutionalization.