Northeast Asia needs to build regional development bank: scholar

By Kim Young-gyo
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- A development bank should be established in Northeast
Asia to induce and advance economic cooperation between impoverished North Korea
and the other countries in the region, a South Korean scholar said Monday.
"The long-delayed creation of an Northeast Asia development bank should be driven
forward," said Lee Su-hoon, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies
said at a forum hosted by Seoul's Yonsei University.
His remarks came as a new round of six-party talks between the two Koreas, the
U.S., China, Japan and Russia, aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear
programs, was to begin in Beijing.
"Economic aid would follow when steps towards the dismantlement of the North's
nuclear weapons are fully implemented. In addition to what is agreed within the
six-party talks in terms of the economic cooperation, the development bank in the
region would be able to provide other forms of economic aid, ultimately providing
an institutional tool for North Korea to naturally advance into the international
community," Lee said.
He said the regional bank could be an attractive project for the incumbent Lee
Myung-bak administration, which has been emphasizing cooperation among South
Korea, China and Japan against the current economic crisis through joint measures
including currency cooperation.
"I strongly believe that one of the hurdles East Asia faces in its efforts to
achieve regional integration is North Korea," the scholar said. The North is
geopolitically at the center of the region, and its isolation is disrupting
integration, he said.
"Momentum for regional integration can first be gained through East Asian
currency cooperation," Lee said.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
(END)