SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's "diplomacy of golden mean" will help the Asian country expand diplomatic terrain beyond Northeast Asia by strengthening cooperation with Southeast Asian countries and nations bordering the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the special security advisor to President Moon Jae-in said Monday.
Moon Chung-in, professor emeritus at Yonsei University in Seoul and special advisor for foreign affairs and national security for President Moon, told a press conference with foreign correspondents here that such diplomacy had "more to do with harmony."
"It's different from balance. Zhongyong has more to do with harmony, not being sided with one aspect, trying to make a balance among conflicting elements," said the special advisor referring to the Confucian philosophy's golden mean described in the Confucian classic, the Doctrine of the Mean.
He said the Moon government's diplomatic policy direction would not become excessive but try to be a moderation, calling it the diplomacy of "moderation and golden mean."
Asked about a balanced diplomacy which President Moon advocated on his campaign trail, the president has said in a joint press conference with visiting U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month that his balanced diplomacy was not aimed at a diplomacy between the United States and China.
It aimed, Moon has said, to expand his country's diplomatic territory to peacefully resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and build a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, and eventually for peace, stability and prosperity in Northeast Asia.
To expand the diplomatic terrain, the Moon government was pursuing the so-called New Northern Policy and the New Southern Policy, which aimed to go beyond South Korea's focus on diplomacy with four powers surrounding the country such as the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
Under the New Southern Policy, South Korea will expand economic cooperation with 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as the Southeast Asian nations were underestimated despite their political and economic influences, the special advisor said.
The advisor said the focus will be placed on the economic field, but some local experts estimated the expanded diplomacy with Southeast Asia will help South Korea resolve the Korean Peninsula's nuclear issue as many of ASEAN members have diplomatic relations with both South Korea and the DPRK.
Under the New Northern Policy, the Moon administration will build trust with China, Russia and Mongolia through economic cooperation to eventually expand the cooperation to the DPRK.
The advisor said the new northern policy meets, at a point, the far east development advocated by Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's Belt and Road Initiative.
President Moon announced the new economic roadmap on the Korean Peninsula to link logistics into Eurasia through the peninsula divided into the two Koreas by the heavily armed border.
