In the Summer issue of a policy journal Global Asia (Vol. 9, No. 2), Professor Geun Lee co-wrote a feature piece with Professor Yoshihide Soeya (who will be teaching during the 2014 Campus Asia Summer School program) on the possibility of middle power cooperation between Korea and Japan. The full article can be found at the link below.
The Middle-Power Challenge in East Asia:
An Opportunity for Co-operation Between South Korea and Japan
By Geun Lee & Yoshihide Soeya
China's phenomenal rise has left the United States struggling constantly to find an optimal strategy for dealing with the shifting power. South Korea and Japan have to steer a common course over bumpy waters for a better future. Currently, both governments are moving in the opposite direction, due largely to their divergent views of history. The central argument of this essay — to advance the idea of middle power co-operation between South Korea and Japan — is a conceptual one, and does not deal with the so-called history problem that often prevails in the domestic politics of both countries. It is our firm belief that managing the history problem, on the one hand, and discussing the importance of South Korea-Japan co-operation, on the other, should proceed side by side without one interfering with the other. We strongly believe that the promotion of South Korea-Japan co-operation is of paramount importance for the national interests of both countries and the future of East Asia.
Geun Lee is Professor of International Relations at the Graduate School of International Studies of Seoul National University.
Yoshihide Soeya is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the Faculty of Law of Keio University in Tokyo. He is former Director of the Institute of East Asian Studies of Keio University and currently serves as Director of the Center for Contemporary Korean Studies at the Institute.
This article is based on the research outcome of the multi-year project, “The Rise of China and the Changing Trends of Middle Power’s China Policy,” co-organized by the Institute of East Asian Studies of Keio University and the Institute of International Affairs of the Graduate School of International Studies of Seoul National University. The project was funded by the generous support of the Korea Foundation’s policy-oriented research grant program.
