ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 provides a description and an anatomy of existing regional arrangements in East Asia, including those under hard negotiation. Along with the progress of regionalism, various strategies have been proposed for regional integration in East Asia. Although East Asia lags behind Europe with regard to regional economic integration, it is also crowded with many bilateral and multilateral economic arrangements, some of which have served economic development, integration, and globalization very well. We categorize those arrangements into three groups - pan-East Asian initiatives, sub-regional initiatives, and trans-regional initiatives - and explain their main features and challenges. Also the chapter tries to show potential benefits to North Korea and emphasizes that among various approaches to economic opening, participation in East Asian regional economic integration is the best option for North Korea.
