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.