Contributing to Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation
As development accelerates in many parts of Asia, tensions can arise between citizens' growing expectations and governments' capacity to deliver. Korea has experienced extremely rapid economic development—learning the hard-won lesson that effective governance in the midst of change requires cooperation between government and emerging civil society. Our Korea office remains well-positioned to organize regional exchanges that offer individuals from other parts of Asia the opportunity to hear firsthand about what Korea has learned. For example, we were approached by legal organizations in Vietnam and China who asked us to organize a study visit on "freedom of information" in Korea as input to developing their own legislation. They learned how Korea established in law the citizen's "right to know" and formed new institutions by which information is made available using advanced information technology. Recently, we invited participants from eight Asian countries to engage with their Korean counterparts from government agencies and non-governmental watch groups to see how public agencies and civil society can interact to improve government transparency and responsiveness. The group met with senior officials at the Anti- Corruption and Civil Rights Commission and the Office of the President on Civil Society Relations, as well as with the Citizen's Action Network. "My in-depth conversations with Korean professionals helped me understand how good governance has been strengthened and institutionalized in Korea," said one participant from Nepal.
Center for U.S.-Korea Policy
A project of The Asia Foundation, the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy aims to deepen and broaden the foundations for institutionalized cooperation between the United States and South Korea by promoting bilateral policy coordination. The Center is based in the Foundation's Washington DC office. Read more about the Center.