European diplomats, policymakers and academics and their counterparts from Japan and South Korea hashed out what Northeast Asia should take away from Europe’s nearly 70 years of experience with regional integration and the creation of the EU from out of the ashes of World War II on Thursday and Friday in Seoul.

The officials also discussed how regional integration and community-building can ensure peace and security in Northeast Asia, as it has in Europe.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se hosted EU Ambassador Tomasz Kozlowski; Shigeo Iwatami, secretary general of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat; and Antonio Missiroli, director of the EU Institute of Security Studies, for the two-day conference, titled “Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative and the European Experience,” at the Korean National Diplomatic Academy in southern Seoul. 

“Of course there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to building trust and cooperation in a particular region,” Ambassador Kozlowski said. “(And) of course, it is not for the Europeans to offer lessons or prescribe what is needed in East Asia. It is for the leaders and the people of this region to decide and implement what is needed.”

The Northeast Asia initiative resulted from the EU-Korea Summit in November 2013 during President Park Geun-hye’s trip to Europe. South Korean and European officials agreed that Europe’s experience could positively contribute to the promotion of cooperative approaches to strengthening peace and stability in East Asia.

“The three countries of Northeast Asia are important strategic partners for the EU in shaping the global order. Therefore the promotion of cooperation on peace and stability in Northeast Asia is also a key interest of the EU,” Kozlowski said.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2014@heraldcorp.com)