Policy Forum

Rudiger Frank, Professor of East Asian Economy and Society at the University of Vienna, an Adjunct Professor at Korea University, and Director of the Vienna School of Governance, writes, “The current South Korean efforts at the rehabilitation of the North’s economy and transportation networks, combined with a future relaxation of international trade and investment restrictions and a relaxed, open-minded government in Pyongyang might be just what the trading women at North Korea’s markets need when they are praying for more customers.”

Mark J. Valencia, a maritime security analyst in Kaneohe, Hawaii and Nautilus Institute Senior Associate, writes: “This spat may be the tip of an iceberg that expands into freedom of navigation issues and deepens the growing rift in already brittle relations. Both nations should tread lightly and sort out their differences through negotiations less they open a Pandora’s Box of maritime controversies.”

Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Professor of Japanese History at the Australian National University and author of Exodus to North Korea: Shadows from Japan’s Cold War, writes, “With the departure of the Abe administration and the creation of the Fukuda administration, the time is ripe for a new, more flexible and much more wide-reaching approach to break the deadlock in Japan-North Korea relations.”

Su-hoon Lee, Chairman of the South Korean Presidential Committee on Northeast Asian Cooperation Initiative, and Professor at Kyungnam University, and Dean J. Ouellette, a researcher with the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, Korea and assistant editor of Asian Perspective, write, “Much is already being done on both sides to implement the comprehensive and concrete steps agreed to at the 2007 October summit… All this will help overcome the South-North division on the Korean peninsula and lay a foundation for a broader regional integration in Northeast Asia. Dismantlement of the cold-war structure in this part of the world is much over due. Building the bridges to overcome the past and help the region construct its future cooperatively must be supported with genuine and tangible efforts. With time, progress is made inevitably.”

Andrew Horvat, Pacific Council Adjunct Fellow on Japan, writes,”What Ozawa objects to is that the refueling operations support U.S. unilateralism in Iraq, whereas Japanese participation in Afghanistan would be within a UN-approved multilateral framework. While such an argument may not entirely please the Bush administration, it represents the only viable formula Japan has today to contribute to international peace because it allows for overseas military action to be interpreted as being in harmony with war-renouncing Article IX of the Japanese constitution.”

Wonhyuk Lim, Fellow at the Korea Development Institute, writes, “although mutual deterrence between the ROK and DPRK on the Korean peninsula is likely to prevail even after the termination of the ROK-U.S. alliance, the end of the insurance provided by the alliance may weaken the ROKs position in Northeast Asia and present significant security and diplomatic challengesbut not necessarily economic difficulties per se.”

Aidan Foster-Carter, Professor at Leeds University in the United Kingdom, writes, “Given all this, it is surely possible to see the SPT and the summit as broadly parallel tracks in a single peace process, albeit by different routes. While fears that Seoul may prop up the Northern regime are understandable, so also is the ROK’s goal of drawing the DPRK into a web of win-win business and economic dependency. The respective timings of these two tracks will be crucial, but it is not the end of the world if the Seoul train runs ahead a little.”

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Professor of international politics at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, writes, “Political enthusiasm and drive for enhancing security cooperation on the basis of democratic values may have dissipated for the moment, but Japan and Australia should continue to enhance their security cooperation in a way that serves the good of the region and the world.”

Stephan Haggard, Director of the Korea-Pacific Program (KPP) at the University of California at San Diego, and Marcus Noland, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute, write, “Ultimately the success of the program sketched out in the summit announcement will depend on the intentions of the North Koreans. Pyongyang could use the assistance offered by the Seoul to leverage its own reform program. However, it could take the aid and simply retreat into its shell, avoiding real reform and a verifiable resolution to the nuclear issue. Only time will tell.”

Steve Noerper, Senior Associate at the Nautilus Institute, writes, “Welcoming Mongolia’s President to Washington this month with a frank but positive assessment of common needs and an enhanced understanding of developments in Mongolia is critical. We need to better recognize this horseman of the north which has listened to international requests, abided with its responsibilities, supported U.S. and international efforts, and grown itself as one of the regions most vibrant locales as a fitting response to forces of despotism, nuclear proliferation, and hostility that have challenged the international arena of late.”