April 2021 IAAP - ILC 2021

IAAP Session's Theme

"Toward a Northeast Asian Economic Community?
What can be learned from the history of the European Union"

Closing Session

International Association of Academicians for Peace

The International Association of Academicians for Peace is a global interdisciplinary academic initiative aimed at contributing toward the realization of a world of lasting peace. IAAP affirms the belief that academicians, scholars and educators have played and continue to contribute in the intellectual, moral and spiritual development of humanity, and provide an essential role in the building of a good society. IAAP is dedicated to building professional networks for academicians to foster a world of peace based on the ideals of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universal values.

Panelists - IAAP Session

Dr. Niklas Swanström

Executive Director, Institute for Security and Development Policy, ISDP, Sweden

Hon. Erna Hennicot-Schoepges

President of the Chamber of Deputies (1989-1995), Luxembourg

Mr. Jun Isomura

Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Washington DC, USA

Dr. Vladimir Petrovsky

Chief Researcher, Russia-China Center, Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Mr. Yoshihiro Yamazaki

Liaison Director, Institute for Peace Policies for Europe and Middle East, Japan

Panelists - CLOSING Session

Mrs. Marilyn Angelucci

Secretary General, FFWPU Middle East

Dr. Katsumi Otsuka

Chairman, UPF Europe & Middle East

Dr. Michael Balcomb

President, FFWPU Europe & Middle East

Mr. Jacques Marion

Co-chairman, UPF Europe & Middle

Mrs. Carolyn Handschin

EUME Coordinator, International Association of First Ladies for Peace (IAFLP)

BACKGROUNDER

A significant factor that contributed to the reunification of Germany was the existence and support of the European Economic Community, which later became the European Union. Korea, too, needs broader regional support. One cannot contemplate a peaceful settlement on and ultimate reunification of the Korean Peninsula without the collaboration of its Northeast Asian neighbors, namely China, Japan, and Russia. While the European Union has been patiently built up and steadily expanded throughout seven decades of endeavour, the region surrounding the Korean Peninsula has yet to set up even the semblance of a community of nations. Even the two most democratic and free-market-oriented nations, Japan and the Republic of Korea, are currently at loggerheads.

Europe had to pass through a process of trials and errors, develop a spirit of reconciliation, build on shared legacies, apply modern values and create common security mechanisms. To what extent could lessons learned in Europe be relevant in the North-East Asia context? The panel will feature European experts familiar with Europe’s own challenges and achievements, as well as Asian experts who will search for signs of hope for the future amid today’s harsh realities.