Editor's Comments: Northeast Asian Peace, Energy, and Economy: The North Korean Factor

Abstract

Northeast Asia consists of China, Japan, the two Koreas, the Russian Far East, and Mongolia. The heavyweight neighbors' spheres of influence (China, Japan, and Russia), along with that of the United States, overlap in Korea. Consequently, the world's heaviest concentration of military and economic capabilities is in Northeast Asia, with the three largest nuclear-weapons states (China, Russia, and the United States), three threshold nuclear-weapons states (North Korea, South Korea, and Japan), and the world's five largest economies (China, South Korea, Japan, the United States, and Russia). In the middle of this precarious and tough neighborhood, divided Korea stands as a strategic pivot. History and geography have consigned Korea to the position of a highly contested strategic crossroads, the site for over a century of recurrent collisions between great-power interests. Consequently, many view Northeast Asia as primed more for international conflict than for international peace, because this region replicates the global North-South divide with its sharp divergence between wealthy capitalist countries (the United States, Japan, and South Korea) and poor socialist or transitional countries (China, Russia, and North Korea).North Korean Review, however, is based on the premise that these countries will work together as they are increasingly interdependent in all major areas of national interest-national security, energy supply, and economic welfare. First, they have no other choice but to resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff through peaceful negotiations, because a nuclear North Korea poses a greater threat than that posed by the Middle East. Second, the Northeast Asian countries are likely to cooperate for their national energy security because this region is home for major energy consumers such as China, as well as major energy producers such as Russia. The United States is likely to support such a region's cooperation because the United States does not want these countries to depend on the Middle East oil too much. Third, scholars argue that Northeast Asia is a region with every possibility of becoming the best trading bloc in the future, because of Japanese capital and technology, Chinese labor, Russian natural resources, and the Korean work ethic. In addition, the Northeast Asian countries and the United States have already had close economic ties for many years and have been increasingly interdependent economically. These factors are likely to eventually compel the United States, China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea to collaborate on their security, energy, and economy, even if they have differences on these issues.NKR has played a defining role in the field of studies on the relations between North Korea and other countries since its Fall 2005 inaugural issue. The purpose of the journal is to provide the world with opportunities for improved understanding of North Korean relations with the United States and other countries. This international journal publishes the very best policy-oriented and multidisciplinary work on relations between North Korea and other countries. Economics, business, culture, history, politics, international relations, and other academic disciplines are represented. Who have been readers of NKR? Business executives, policy makers, diplomats, researchers, professors, students, and others who have an interest in Northeast Asian peace, energy supply, and economic welfare. It is strongly recommended that all academic and public libraries subscribe in order to provide relevant information about Northeast Asian peace and economic prosperity. Full-text articles of NKR are not available online through any library database.Finally, it gives me great pleasure to introduce briefly a wide variety of interesting articles contained in this issue of NKR. …