KJCKorea
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This paper explores how ASEAN Identity among Southeast Asia countries can be realized by applying the concepts of “shared cultural heritage” and “socio-cultural solidarity.” Guided by the official documents—the ASEAN Identity Narrative and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint 2025, this paper analyzes how regional cohesiveness can develop through common emphasis on historical, social, and cultural bonds among the ASEAN member states manifested through religiosity, nationalism, humanitarianism, cultural expressions, regionalism, and futurism. Moreover, initiatives and cultural policies that promote mutual understanding, respect for cultural diversity, and the building of collective projects that reinforce the notion of an ASEAN identity are considered within the analysis. By providing illustration as to how the concepts of “shared cultural heritage” and “socio-cultural solidarity” serve the foundation toward the construction of a conscious ethos geared toward establishing a common future based on diversity in the Southeast Asian region, this paper argues that the ASEAN identity is constructed via strong national selfhood and regional cultural ties. The implication drawn from this this paper’s proposal is that having a common or shared identity, or a cultural consistency of the regional actors will most likely reduce conflicts or misunderstanding in the region, thus allowing them to achieve common goals.

This research explores Korea's approach to digital Official Development Assistance (ODA) for cultural heritage preservation within the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA). Leveraging its advanced digital technologies, Korea has been introducing innovative solutions such as 3D scanning, virtual reality, and geographic information systems, to document and protect both tangible and intangible cultural assets in partner countries. The study highlights key case studies demonstrating how digital ODA initiatives have enhanced cultural resilience, fostering regional identity and sustainable development. Emphasis placed on the role of triangular cooperation as a critical strategy, allowing Korea, through collaboration with BIMP-EAGA nations, to optimize resources and achieve shared goals in heritage preservation. This collaborative framework, combining community engagement and advanced digital tools, underscores the importance of adaptable, context-sensitive approaches in preserving cultural heritage amidst modern challenges.

This paper explores how improving inter-state relations and deepening links and growing trade flows between Thailand and Laos are manifest at the level of local traders in the Thai-Lao borderlands. Drawing on interviews with key informants including Thai and Lao traders and Thai officers and participant observation in a border market, the paper unsettles two assumptions that implicitly underpin policies concerning the management of cross-border trade. First is the assumption that cross-border trade and linkages with Laos were largely absent or somehow insufficient before 1988. And second, that the official opening of the border has smoothly and inclusively stimulated greater trade and interaction. Focusing on small-scale and informal traders, the paper argues that trade and cross-border interactions were always present even when relations were at their worst and that the formalization of trade has had negative effects on informal and small-scale activities which were so important at the local level. The paper also shows, however, that in the market itself there is a small space of informalization—where formal rules and regulations are informalized in the interests of local people.