The new South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, declared
in his inauguration speech on February 25, 2003 that “the Age
of Northeast Asia is fast approaching.” The Korean peninsula
has to be reborn as a gateway to peace that connects the
Eurasian landmass with the Pacific, and leads to “The Age of
Northeast Asia in the 21st century,” as long predicted by
renowned scholars. These predictions are now coming true.
Northeast Asia, as a region covering the Korean states, Japan,
Mongolia, northeastern parts of China and the Russian Far East,
can indeed become an important sub-region of East Asia, Asia-
Pacific and Eurasia. Northeast Asia partly overlaps the concept
of North Pacific, the latter including also parts of the United
States (Alaska) and Canada (British Columbia). Northern Eurasia,
connecting Northeast Asia with northern Europe through
Russia, was in fact a political and economic unit from 1809
until 1917 under Imperial Russia, which extended from the
Finnish Aland Islands, close to the Swedish eastern coast,
across to the Pacific Ocean, and until 1867 even to Alaska. In
the new post-Cold War international situation, northern Eurasia
could again become a connecting factor between Northeast
Asia/the North Pacific and Europe/the EU through the vast
Eurasian Land Bridge. The 320 million people of Northeast
Asia and the huge natural resources and complementarities of
the Northeast Asian economies could form a realistic basis for a
new regional architecture in Northeast Asia, with logistical and
other connections towards Eurasia, North America and the
South Pacific. It has all the potential to develop into a new
major pole or power center in the developing multipolar/
multi-centered world order. The Korean peninsula is in a
key position in this development. Increasing regional cooperation
in Northeast Asia could lessen the prevailing tensions in
the region and facilitate the development toward an eventual
reunification of Korea, in one form or another, even in the foreseeable
future. The growing relationship between Northeast
Asia and Europe, and particularly the European Union, called
in this article “the Eurasian Dimension,” could become an
important catalyst for the future normalization of inter-Korean
relations.
The new South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, declared
in his inauguration speech on February 25, 2003 that “the Age
of Northeast Asia is fast approaching.” The Korean peninsula
has to be reborn as a gateway to peace that connects the
Eurasian landmass with the Pacific, and leads to “The Age of
Northeast Asia in the 21st century,” as long predicted by
renowned scholars. These predictions are now coming true.
Northeast Asia, as a region covering the Korean states, Japan,
Mongolia, northeastern parts of China and the Russian Far East,
can indeed become an important sub-region of East Asia, Asia-
Pacific and Eurasia. Northeast Asia partly overlaps the concept
of North Pacific, the latter including also parts of the United
States (Alaska) and Canada (British Columbia). Northern Eurasia,
connecting Northeast Asia with northern Europe through
Russia, was in fact a political and economic unit from 1809
until 1917 under Imperial Russia, which extended from the
Finnish Aland Islands, close to the Swedish eastern coast,
across to the Pacific Ocean, and until 1867 even to Alaska. In
the new post-Cold War international situation, northern Eurasia
could again become a connecting factor between Northeast
Asia/the North Pacific and Europe/the EU through the vast
Eurasian Land Bridge. The 320 million people of Northeast
Asia and the huge natural resources and complementarities of
the Northeast Asian economies could form a realistic basis for a
new regional architecture in Northeast Asia, with logistical and
other connections towards Eurasia, North America and the
South Pacific. It has all the potential to develop into a new
major pole or power center in the developing multipolar/
multi-centered world order. The Korean peninsula is in a
key position in this development. Increasing regional cooperation
in Northeast Asia could lessen the prevailing tensions in
the region and facilitate the development toward an eventual
reunification of Korea, in one form or another, even in the foreseeable
future. The growing relationship between Northeast
Asia and Europe, and particularly the European Union, called
in this article “the Eurasian Dimension,” could become an
important catalyst for the future normalization of inter-Korean
relations.