At the 1st ASEAN Summit of 2025 held in May, the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 (ACV 2045) was adopted. This serves as a 20-year blueprint following the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 announced in 2015. The new vision provides a direction for the development of the ASEAN Community up to 2045 in response to rapidly changing regional and international environments. The ACV 2045 expands upon the original three pillars of the ASEAN Community—Political-Security, Economic, and Sociocultural—by officially adding Connectivity as a fourth pillar. Alongside the ACV 2045, sector-specific strategic plan documents were simultaneously released, designed to function as an integrated package along with the vision. This structural feature demonstrates ASEAN's commitment to synchronizing its community vision with actionable plans.

There are three major policy implications of the ACV 2045 for Korea’s cooperation with ASEAN. First, Korea should strengthen structural approaches by consolidating dispersed connectivity projects under a unified “Korea-ASEAN Connectivity Cooperation” framework, leveraging initiatives such as the Korea-ASEAN Digital Innovation Flagship (KADIF) and its unique maritime sub-regional ties to position itself as a key partner in ASEAN’s connectivity agenda. Second, Korea must shift from a one-sided support model to mutually beneficial, sector-specific cooperation in emerging areas like supply chains, the green and blue economy, and digital transformation. Third, Korea should reinforce strategic cooperation by aligning with regional middle powers and multilateral platforms to address great power rivalry, promoting a multi-layered ASEAN+ solidarity that supports rules-based order, inclusive multilateralism, supply chain resilience, and maritime security.

This article is an English Summary of Asan Issue Brief (2025-26).

(‘아세안공동체비전 2045와4대 전략계획이 한국의 아세안 정책에 주는 함의’)