PH, South Korea discuss better bilateral ties, defense cooperation

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, right, shakes hands with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario before their meeting at the Central Government Complex in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012. AP /Lee Jin-man

MANILA, Philippines – Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario has met with his counterpart South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan in Seoul  to discuss improvements in bilateral relations, including efforts to enhance defense cooperation initiatives.

“Discussions between Secretary Del Rosario and Minister Kim were very fruitful. They exchanged views on important regional and international issues and both agreed to enhance defense cooperation,” said Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Erlinda F. Basilio, who was part of Thursday’s meeting, in a statement Friday.

For his part, Del Rosario, in the statement, said the move was proof of the Philippine government’s commitment to enhance bilateral relations with Korea in all aspects, including political dialogue, economic cooperation, and people to people exchanges.

The statement also noted that the visit was Del Rosario’s first in South Korea as the Philippine foreign affairs secretary.

It said Del Rosario also met with Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, who lauded the Philippines as Korea’s long standing ally in multilateral fronts for more than six decades.

“The Philippines is one of our most important partners within ASEAN,” Kim Hwang-sik said in a statement.

It said Del Rosario was also given a brief tour of the Philippine Tourism showroom in Seoul by Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Luis Cruz.

Cruz, in the statement, noted a steady increase of Korean visitors to the Philippines, saying that in 2011, a total of 925, 204 Koreans visited the Philippines, contributing to almost a quarter of total tourist arrivals to the country.

For six years, Korea has been the number one source of tourists to the Philippines. By December 2012, the Department of Tourism expected the number of tourist arrivals from Korea to reach 1 million.

Korea was also the 6th biggest trading partner of the Philippines in 2011 with bilateral trade at $ 6.58 billion.