JULY COVERAGE SCHEDULE
- Morgan Wright, Chief Security Advisor at SentinelOne: "Digital Defenses for Medical Databases"
- Doug Milburn, Founder of 45Drives: "Demicrosoftification: A New Paradigm in Enterprise Computing"
- Emanuel Pastreich, President of the Asia Institute: "Miracle in Ulaanbaatar"
- Jin Hyung Kim, Emeritus Professor at KAIST: "Democratizing AI: Innovation for Everyone”
- Layne Hartsell, PhD, and Alexander Krabbe, MD: The essay "War in Eurasia"
- Eric Jaremalm, CEO of Midsummer: "The virgin market for industrial thin-film solar roofs"
- Yeonkyu Chung, CEO of Grib: "Effective Policy Support Measures for SMEs Under the Severe Accident Punishment Act"
By Dr. Emanuel Pastreich(epastreich@asia-institute.org)
Who would have imagined that in the midst of tremendous military tensions around the world, a group of retired senior government officials, academics and NGO activists from South Korea, the United States, Japan, the Philippines, Mongolia, China, and Russia managed to gather in Ulaanbaatar for a series of in-depth talks about how to get East Asia back on the road to peace, culminating with a Mongolia Forum open to the public that explicitly called for peace?
Not only was security and diplomacy addressed in depth by these experts, at a time when dialog with China has grown strained, and conversation with Russia nearly impossible, but cultural exchange, addressing environmental issues, and even tree planting, were a critical part of the agenda that brought important figures from these countries together as friends.
Moreover, a parallel student conference attracted outstanding college students from South Korea, Mongolia, the United States, and China who brainstormed about means to achieve this noble goal while the experts met in the conference rooms.
Besides the grand scale of the vision for peace and the bravery and determination of the participants, there were two remarkable aspects to the discussion on building peace in East Asia. First, the free and peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula was posited as the key to a peaceful future for East Asia, and for the world. Secondly, Mongolia was praised as the nation best positioned to assist in what could be the equivalent of a Six-Party Talks process to build peace in Northeast Asia because it has so successfully maintained close diplomatic ties with South Korea, the United States, Japan, China, Russia and North Korea. In fact, Mongolia is perhaps the only place in the world where North Koreans and South Koreans, or Japanese and Americans can meet in person.
The steady hand of Jargalsaikhan Enkhsaikhan, former Mongolian ambassador to the United Nations, was felt behind every step of this major diplomatic effort. His broad network of trusted friends throughout Asia, and his professional team at his NGO Blue Banner, made sure that everyone was in line with the vision.
Ambassador Enkhsaikhan has worked closely with Chairman Preston Moon of the Global Peace Foundation, a global NGO with a strong presence in Mongolia, Korea, Japan and the United States that is supporting this drive for peace through an architecture of diplomacy centered around a free and unified Korean Peninsula. Chairman Moon has placed Mongolia at the center of the dialog on Korean unification because it has strong ties with North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the United States.
Session two of the conference concerned the role of civil society in Northeast Asia in preparing an environment for Korean unification, including how to explain the benefits of unification to stakeholders, how to assess the current policies of nations in the region, and how to evaluate current North Korean policies with an eye to identify opportunities for cooperation and appropriate best practices to follow.
Session three focused on Mongolia’s current contributions to fighting desertification, highlighting President KhurelsukhUkhnaagiin’s “One Billion Tree Initiative.” Mongolia’s success in promoting sustainable development and finding solutions to insure both peace and environmental conservation were considered as a models for the region.
Section four considered strategies for building bridges for peace among nations using economic collaboration trade and investment by businesses in the region. The most striking suggestions for moving away from confrontation and competition to collaboration and creation were offered by famed architect and urban planner Felino Palafox of the Philippines who suggested that Mongolia offered unparalleled opportunities for development which could well lead to tremendous breakthroughs ushering a new era of peace.
Other partners for the Mongolia Forum included AKU (Action for Korea United), the Asia Institute, the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism, and the Global Peace Institute.
The final statement of the Mongolia Forum suggested that a regional mechanism for Northeast Asia could be established to facilitate collaboration for peace that is focused on Korean unification. The very fact that such an event was so completed, in a constructive and positive environment, is testimony to the new diplomatic role of Mongolia and the centrality of Korean unification for peace in Asia.
About Author
Emanuel Pastreich is an American professor and expert in international relations, currently serving as the president of the Asia Institute and a senior fellow at the Global Peace Foundation, where he focuses on mitigating geopolitical tensions in Northeast Asia. He ran as an independent candidate for the U.S. presidency in 2020 and is pursuing the 2024 election after a brief campaign for the Green Party's nomination. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Pastreich is fluent in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, and holds a B.A. in Chinese from Yale University, an M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Tokyo, and a Ph.D. in East Asian Studies from Harvard University. His academic career includes positions at the University of Illinois, George Washington University, and Kyung Hee University. He has authored numerous works in English, Korean, and Japanese on topics such as Korean literature, cultural traditions, and contemporary geopolitics, including I Shall Fear No Evil, as well as notable Korean titles like Life is a Direction, Not a Speed, World Scholars Speak on the Future of Korea, Other Republics Only Koreans Do Not Know, and Finding Answers in Global Management Hongik.
