Northeast Asian Economic Cooperation in Perspective:The Future Has Never Been Brighter

It is easy to become pessimistic about Northeast Asian economic cooperation if one follows the news day-by-day.Progress hasbeen slow,and disappointing setbacks are always sensationalized in the news media,especially those concerning the DPRK.This makesit difficult to believe that major progress in Northeast Asian cooperation is possible.However,I believe that taking a longer-term per-spective on recent events will permit us to see that there really has been considerable progress in advancing conditions that favor NortheastAsian economic cooperation.This makes it possible to assert that,after a year of leadership transitions in 2012,the prospects for furtherprogress have never been better than today.To see this point,I will compare the present situation to what existed at other moments of op-portunity in Northeast Asian economic cooperation.Each of these past moments was the result of certain hopeful developments,but inthe end they produced disappointment.The reasons why can tell us what the obstacles to success have been,and how today some funda-mental conditions have changed to favor Northeast Asian cooperation.If those old precedents and new developments are skillfully utilizedin a new era of policy moderation and stability,they could enlarge the scale and scope of positive Northeast Asian cooperation.translocal economic cooperationNortheast AsiaDPRKnuclear Sunshine PolicySix-Party talks