Busan Gets Ready to Welcome ASEAN Leaders

The leaders of the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations converge this week for a special Korea-ASEAN summit in Busan. ASEAN is fast emerging as a vital growth market for Korea and valuable partner in the diplomatic arena.

Around 3,000 ASEAN officials, including minsters and other high-ranking officials, will attend the meeting on Dec. 11-12.

This is the first multilateral meeting in Korea for the Park Geun-hye administration. Park plans to hold individual summits with the 10 ASEAN leaders as well as attending the plenary meeting.

She has devoted substantial time recently to preparations, officials said.

◆ Next Growth Engine

ASEAN has achieved relatively stable economic growth for several years, drawing attention as the next burgeoning market after the so-called BRICs and China. Even after the 2008 global financial crisis, ASEAN economies grew 4.7 percent in 2011, 5.6 percent in 2012 and 5.5 percent in 2013.

Korean trade with ASEAN totaled US$135.3 billion last year, or 13 percent of Korea's total trade volume, and was the country's second-largest trading partner after China.

Korea achieved a $28.7 billion surplus in trade with ASEAN last year, accounting for 65 percent of the country's total trade surplus. And Korean builders have won their second-biggest number of orders from ASEAN after the Middle East, while the bloc ranks second only to China in terms of Korean overseas investments.

An ASEAN Economic Community to be launched in 2015 will encompass a combined population of 637 million people and total GDP of $2.4 trillion. That will make it the world's third most populous market after China and India.

"Just five years ago, the ASEAN economy was about the size of Korea's, but now it’s grown twice as big,” a Foreign Ministry official said. "A few years from now, it will grow to about half the size of China's."

Some experts believe trade and investment in ASEAN could hold the key to helping Korea escape from the economic doldrums, just like the Middle Eastern construction boom helped the Korean economy grow in the 1970s.

◆ Joint Response

The regular ASEAN Regional Forum is Asia's only multilateral dialogue platform. The bloc is also a geographic link between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. Korea, China and Japan are all racing to consolidate their diplomatic ties with it.

China has pledged $20 billion in development loans, while Japan has steadily bolstered economic ties with the region.

ASEAN is also a potential partner in helping North Korean defectors escape repatriation. Although member countries have formal diplomatic ties with North Korea, they oppose Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

A Foreign Ministry official said, "ASEAN support is crucial in getting North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons and realizing peace on the Korean Peninsula."

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Hong Kong Protest Leaders Will Surrender to Police

The three founders of Hong Kong's Occupy movement are moving ahead with plans to surrender to police and are urging their fellow protesters to retreat for their own safety.

At a news conference Tuesday, Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man, and Chu Yiu-ming announced they will turn themselves into the Central Police Station on Wednesday.

Benny Tai said it is unclear whether police will detain or release him and his Occupy co-founders, but he said they are ready to accept the consequences no matter the outcome.

He also urged the hundreds of protesters who remain camped on Hong Kong's streets to pull back and prepare for a long-term fight aimed at securing democratic reforms.

"The government that uses police batons to maintain its authority is a government that is beyond reason. For the sake of the Occupy safety, for the sake of our original intention of love and peace, as we prepare to surrender, we three urge the students to retreat, to put down deep roots in the community and transform the movement," he said.

On its Twitter page, the Occupy movement said the surrender "is not an act of cowardice" or admission of failure, but a denunciation of what it called a "heartless government."

Occupy Central civil disobedience founder Benny Tai (center), a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, along with co-founders Chan Kin-man (left), a professor of sociology at Chinese University and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, join hands during a news conference. /Reuters

The protests, which began in late September, are calling for authorities to hold fully democratic elections in the semiautonomous Chinese territory in 2017.

Authorities have declared the protests to be illegal and have tried several times to clear parts of the camps, resulting in violent clashes.

It is unclear whether the protesters will agree to back down. Several student leaders have said they will not surrender, insisting instead on further escalation.

One student leader hopes a hunger strike will convince authorities to consider reforms. Joshua Wong began his indefinite hunger strike late Monday, along with two other members of his group, known as Scholarism.

Twelve hours into the fast, the 18-year-old Wong told reporters his demand is to hold fresh talks, with no preconditions, on restarting Hong Kong's political reform process.

He also said he wants his action to help bring attention to the so-called Occupy Central movement, which has lost momentum in recent weeks.

"We admit that it's difficult in the future to have an escalated action, so besides suffering from batons and tear gas, we would like to use our body to get public attention on the issue. We are not sure if the hunger strike can put pressure on the government, but we hope that when the public finds out about the student hunger strike, they will ask themselves what they can do next," said Wong.

The hunger strike is being held in the Admiralty district, where clashes erupted Sunday after protesters broke through police lines in an attempt to surround government headquarters.

Police pushed back with pepper spray and batons, but the protesters eventually succeeded in temporarily forcing government offices and parliament to close. Several protesters were injured and at least 18 were arrested.

Hong Kong's High Court has approved an injunction to clear part of the Admiralty site, though it is unclear if and when authorities will enforce that ruling.

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Hong Kong Police Arrest Protest Leaders, Clear Streets

Hong Kong authorities cleared a main protest camp Wednesday and arrested two leaders of the Occupy Central movement, which is calling for greater democracy in the semiautonomous Chinese territory.

Police hauled away several protesters, including student leaders Lester Shum and Joshua Wong, during the several-hour operation to clear barricades from a road in the Mong Kok district.

Scuffles broke out when some protesters tried to prevent workers from tearing down the barricades on a major thoroughfare.

Avery Ng Man-yuen, vice chairman of League of Social Democrats (LSD), tells VOA he and other protesters believe the police violated the court injunction during the enforcement process.

"They did not follow the procedure, but using the injunction as an excuse to clear the site," he said. "I have repeatedly asked the police to explain some questions, such as, is the bailiff there when they were enforcing injunction? He replied he didn't know. The injunction mentioned clearing obstacles, does that include protesters? He didn't reply."

The workers, who wore red baseball caps and "I Love Hong Kong" T-shirts, were backed by thousands of police. After the barricades and tents were removed, the highway reopened to traffic.

The workers and police initially faced resistance from demonstrators, who chanted for "full democracy" in the city. Police dragged away and arrested many protesters who refused to move.

One demonstrator, who identified himself as Roland, said he didn't know who the workers were. "Probably they are hired by the authorities to clear these [protest sites]. ... But I would like to insist that the Occupied zone is the expression of people’s voice. The government shouldn't do this."

Police officers remove tents set up by protesters as they clear an occupied area of the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong on Nov. 26, 2014. /AP

Demonstrations have blocked some Hong Kong's streets since the pro-democracy protests began in late September.

In October, Mong Kok was the site of violent clashes between protesters and thugs who attacked them. Police later said the attackers were members of local criminal gangs.

Pa Sah, who has joined in the daily demonstrations, alleged there has been "brutality and damage to the protesters."

"There have been a lot of cases where the police have attacked and injured protesters," the demonstrator said. "The police brutality is very apparent."

It was the third time authorities have cleared protest sites since Hong Kong's High Court approved the actions earlier this month. On Tuesday, police said they arrested 116 people during an operation to clear another part of Mong Kok.

Protesters remain camped out at two other sites near government headquarters in the Admiralty neighborhood and in the popular shopping district of Causeway Bay.

Public opinion in Hong Kong has been divided over the protests. Many residents say the demonstrations, which have blocked traffic and damaged sales at nearby shops and stores, have taken an economic toll on the city. Protest leadership has become increasingly split between moderate and more extreme activists who demand radical action.

While the protesters may be divided, the government's position is clear, Pa Sha said.

"I think the government is trying to arrest the leaders to try to deal with the movement once and for all, trying to show a very hard-line stance against the movement."

The demonstrators have been calling for fully democratic elections in 2017. They took to the streets after China ruled in August that all candidates for Hong Kong's chief executive must first be approved by a committee that is stacked with pro-Beijing loyalists.

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