Building a Peaceful East Asian Community: Origins of a Regional Concept and Visions for a Global Age

While the thought of a regional community in East Asia comparable to the European Union is premature, I consider the transforming international relationships among North Korea, South Korea, China, Taiwan, and Japan and examine the possibility of realizing such a community via sociocultural approaches. I trace the conceptual origins of East Asia and its historical place in international relations, investigate East Asia in the post Cold War era through renewed cultural exchanges among the region's countries, and propose a vision of and tasks for an East Asian cultural community.