Strengthening Asia - Europe Economic Ties : a Korean Perspective = Strengthening Asia - Europe Economic Ties : a Korean Perspective

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

As an economic partner of Korea, EU occupies an important place as the US. However, economic cooperation between East Asia and the EU is far behind those between East Asia and the US, or between East Asia and Japan. Strengthening the political and economic cooperation between two regions is imperative. On the part of Europe, there is also a strong need for attracting East Asia on her sides, because this region is the most dynamic area in the world. So far, Asian countries concentrated most of their efforts to promote economic cooperation on individual basis. This strategy turned out greatly insufficient. New emphasis should be given to consolidating the rapprochement between Asia as a whole and EU. The regional cooperation will allow East Asia to be politically more independent from the US and enjoy the corresponding political power in international arena, and through it, Europe to have its appropriate political presence in the region. East Asian countries should therefore be more active to search for regional cooperation such as Asian Free Trade Area or Asian Monetary Cooperation. On economic ground indeed, there is good evidence to support regional arrangement. Then, it must be followed by the cooperation on a region to region basis through a meeting such as ASEM.