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3/28/2024    8:49:05 PM
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Left to right: Ambassador Donald Gregg, Young-Mok Kim, Bradley O. Babson, John B. Fetter



Korea Society Conference



Ambassador Charles Kartman

Considering its high degree of dependence on imported oil, Northeast Asia faces a bleak future if it does not develop other energy sources. Prospects for multinational cooperation have been overshadowed by political, economic and diplomatic problems, one of the most pressing being the North Korean nuclear issue. What are the current energy sources in Northeast Asia? What alternative energy sources exist, and what would it take to successfully exploit them? How effective can international power grids, gas pipelines and other cooperative measures be in making the region less reliant on Middle Eastern oil? What are the environmental and security issues involved?

On March 9, 2005, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) will have been in operation for a full ten years. Over this time, KEDO has served as a powerful diplomatic tool for the United States, European Union, Japan, and Republic of Korea (ROK), as it attempts the difficult process of normalizing ties with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). It has, however, faced many challenges to its original mandate, none more so than the DPRK’s suspected uranium enrichment program.

As governments press for a resolution of the current diplomatic stalemate, common wisdom holds that any final or interim agreements should include measures to address the DPRK’s energy situation. It is not too early to begin assessing how such agreements might be initiated and managed. KEDO’s creation and operation offers many pertinent lessons. This panel will consider how these lessons can be integrated into the current diplomatic process, as well as how KEDO might play a role in any future energy-related activities.

Panel 1
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Panel 2
Audio Only - 53M Download*
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