Energy Cooperation and building Peace on the Korean Peninsula
Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom and the Institute for Far Eastern Studies co-hosted the international conference entitled “Energy Cooperation and building Peace on the Korean Peninsula” in Seoul, October 17.
In modern world, energy plays a crucial role in the national security of countries since securing the access to the sufficient energy supply is essential to the very functioning of any modern economies. In particular, energy sector needs and requirements for energy security together constitute a critical dimension of the North Korea nuclear development, which continues to threaten the peace on the Korean Peninsula and also in the East Asian region.
Indeed, the North Korean nuclear crisis is an elusive problem. For nearly twenty years Pyongyang’s position has vacillated between agreeing to halt nuclear weapons development in exchange for diplomatic normalization with the United States and energy assistance cum development aid, and continuing to move forward with its nuclear programs. To date, neither multilateral dialogue efforts nor political pressure in the form of international sanctions have curbed North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, the motivation for which appears twofold: economic isolation and security crisis. Helping North Korea find a safer and more viable solution to its energy shortages via energy cooperation could go a long way to alleviate the country’s economic problems, allay the regime’s security fears, establish political trust between North Korea and the international community, and build peace in the region.
Against this background, the conference aims to shed light on energy cooperation with the DPRK for promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula and to draw lessons for the regional energy cooperation as a way to build peace in our region from strategies of the European Union in dealing with its energy security within and beyond the Europe as well as specific German experiences with renewable energy. It attempts to carefully study various alternative energy sources, i.e. renewable energies, which have been actively developed in Europe to solve its energy challenges.
The conference was attended by experts both from home and abroad; participating international speakers include Professor Tomohiro Inagaki from Hiroshima University in Japan who delivered the keynote speech “Steep Road to Reduce Dependence on Nuclear Energy in Japan”, Dr. Eckehard Büscher and Dr. Volkhard Riechmann from Germany, who respectively presented on “EU’s Energy Policy & External Relations” and “Germany’s Renewable Industry and Implications of Germany’s complete abandonment of nuclear power plants to Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia”.