Jeju Peace Institute

If the current trends in Northeast Asia are maintained, it is expected that North Korea will acquire nuclear weapons, China will challenge the existing US-Russia-centered nuclear order, and Japan will gradually overcome domestic resistanceto nuclear weapon development.

Considering the current situation of each country, it is truly difficult to promote the Northeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone at the government level. In this respect, there is a necessity to deepen the debate at the track 1.5 level as well as at the track 2 level.

In order to realize the idea of the Northeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, it is necessary to draw elements from the “Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” that the Korean government has maintained and the “Four Pillars Nuclear Policy” that the Japanese government has maintained based on the basic framework and ideology of the Northeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, and creatively combine them with the content of “9.19 Joint Statement” on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Considering the current situation of each country, it is truly difficult to promote the Northeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone at the government level. In this respect, there is a necessity to deepen the debate at the track 1.5 level as well as at the track 2 level.​

Author

CHO Seong Ryoul (Senior Researcher, The Institute for National Security Strategy)