Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EUSKOR (Europe, the United States and the Crisis on the KORean Peninsula: Between a Rock and a Hard Place)
Reporting period: 2018-12-10 to 2020-12-09
The EUSKOR project examined the EU’s foreign policy towards the DPRK/North Korea and the role of the EU as a global actor on the Korean Peninsula and North East (NE) Asia. The research work was split into two Work Packages (WP1 in 2019, WP2 in 2020).
In its WP1, the EUSKOR project explored whether and how the EU could play a more significant role in the DPRK through its increased strategic engagement, particularly by using innovative tools which are related to the EU’s diplomacy, mediation and verification expertise. The EUSKOR project analyzed “out-of-the-box” approaches that have not been employed yet and policy options that the EU can bring to the negotiating table in order to reach denuclearization and peace settlement on the Korean peninsula.
Due to Covid19 pandemic and its adverse impact on access to the key interlocutors, the EUSKOR project shifted its focus from the EU’s role as a political and security actor in NE Asia towards the questions of how the EU and South Korea can strengthen their strategic partnership as an alliance between two like-minded partners that need to combat the pandemic together and to position themselves within the US-China great power competition. Given the timeliness of the new research agenda, research results contributed to tackling the current health emergency and to the ideas how to go about the EU’s “strategic autonomy” through working with like-minded partners in Asia.
In its WP1, the EUSKOR project explored whether and how the EU could play a more significant role in the DPRK through its increased strategic engagement, particularly by using innovative tools which are related to the EU’s diplomacy, mediation and verification expertise. The EUSKOR project analyzed “out-of-the-box” approaches that have not been employed yet and policy options that the EU can bring to the negotiating table in order to reach denuclearization and peace settlement on the Korean peninsula.
Due to Covid19 pandemic and its adverse impact on access to the key interlocutors, the EUSKOR project shifted its focus from the EU’s role as a political and security actor in NE Asia towards the questions of how the EU and South Korea can strengthen their strategic partnership as an alliance between two like-minded partners that need to combat the pandemic together and to position themselves within the US-China great power competition. Given the timeliness of the new research agenda, research results contributed to tackling the current health emergency and to the ideas how to go about the EU’s “strategic autonomy” through working with like-minded partners in Asia.
The EUSKOR project produced 7 policy-oriented publications and a book chapter. The MSCA fellow presented the EUSKOR project at 8 academic conferences, 9 policy events, 3 scientific outreach events and at an invited lecture. The academic conferences included European studies EUSA/EISA conferences, the US political science APSA conference, Asian and Korean studies KPSA and APISA conferences, the IFES/Friedrich-Naumann Foundation online conference on North Korean studies, a Peking University conference on the EU-NE Asia relations and the World Korea Forum at Columbia University. The MSCA fellow introduced her research at an invited lecture at University of California-Berkeley. In Berlin, the MSCA fellow organized a hybrid one-day “Strategic Dialogue with Korea(s)” workshop.
The MSCA fellow created a EUSKOR project website (https://www.polsoz.fu-berlin.de/polwiss/euskor(opens in new window)) which will remain available after the end of the project. The EUSKOR website summarizes all publications and events, but also serves as a gateway for the dataset of transcribed interviews available to other researchers.
Apart from academic activities, the MSCA fellow participated in 9 policy-oriented events, including at the Diplomatic Academy Vienna, Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, conference on the Korean Peninsula in Siem Riep, a webinar under the auspices of South Korea’s Ministry of Unification, the Asia Center Paris online conference and a symposium co-organized by the Czech foreign ministry and Institute for International Relations.
The publications have been published in highly-regarded policy outlets, such as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and The Diplomat, as well as by specialist Korean studies publications (38th North) and think tanks, including Friends of Europe, Asia Center Paris and EUROPEUM Prague.
The MSCA fellow served as an “MSCA Ambassador” and a mentor to several MSCA candidates and new fellows and discussed her experience at an MSCA info session organized by a National Contact Point. The MSCA fellow participated in other science-outreach activities, presenting her EUSKOR project within 3 and 6 minutes to a broader public at FU Berlin and the Czech Center Berlin.
All in all, the EUSKOR project has been very successful particularly in its policy impact and communication/dissemination actions, reaching the audiences of key decision-makers in the EU and Asia. The EUSKOR project was also effectively promoted within the scholarly communities and the wider publics across the world. As a result, the EUSKOR project has been chosen by the European Commission to be presented within the “MSCA Fellow of the Week” initiative.
The MSCA fellow created a EUSKOR project website (https://www.polsoz.fu-berlin.de/polwiss/euskor(opens in new window)) which will remain available after the end of the project. The EUSKOR website summarizes all publications and events, but also serves as a gateway for the dataset of transcribed interviews available to other researchers.
Apart from academic activities, the MSCA fellow participated in 9 policy-oriented events, including at the Diplomatic Academy Vienna, Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, conference on the Korean Peninsula in Siem Riep, a webinar under the auspices of South Korea’s Ministry of Unification, the Asia Center Paris online conference and a symposium co-organized by the Czech foreign ministry and Institute for International Relations.
The publications have been published in highly-regarded policy outlets, such as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and The Diplomat, as well as by specialist Korean studies publications (38th North) and think tanks, including Friends of Europe, Asia Center Paris and EUROPEUM Prague.
The MSCA fellow served as an “MSCA Ambassador” and a mentor to several MSCA candidates and new fellows and discussed her experience at an MSCA info session organized by a National Contact Point. The MSCA fellow participated in other science-outreach activities, presenting her EUSKOR project within 3 and 6 minutes to a broader public at FU Berlin and the Czech Center Berlin.
All in all, the EUSKOR project has been very successful particularly in its policy impact and communication/dissemination actions, reaching the audiences of key decision-makers in the EU and Asia. The EUSKOR project was also effectively promoted within the scholarly communities and the wider publics across the world. As a result, the EUSKOR project has been chosen by the European Commission to be presented within the “MSCA Fellow of the Week” initiative.
The EUSKOR project concentrated on creating a set of “outside-of-the-box” tools that the EU could use in order to influence the situation on the Korean peninsula and would increase its weight as a global actor in Asia and beyond. From the scientific point of view, as well as from a policy perspective, this is the main contribution of the EUSKOR project to the state of the art. As an illustration, the EUSKOR project suggested:
• Appointing an EU Ambassador to the DPRK and opening an EU Delegation, or a liaison office, in Pyongyang
• Allowing to open a DPRK embassy to the EU in Brussels
• Appointing a Special Representative/Envoy for Peace on the Korean Peninsula
• Resuming the EU-DPRK political and human rights dialogues
• Promoting Brussels as a convening point for negotiations with the DPRK and setting-up an international conference on the Korean peninsula
• Drafting a new EU Strategy and/or a “Borrell Peace Plan” for the Korean Peninsula
• Resuming EU humanitarian aid and creating an INSTEX-like facility
• Starting off a “de-sanctioning” process by easing the EU restrictive measures against the DPRK, in agreement with the US and in return for steps towards denuclearization
• Promoting educational and cultural exchanges; bringing North Korean students to the EU via the Erasmus programme
In WP2, in the light of global challenges, the EUSKOR project suggested:
• Using the EU’s contribution to COVAX to engage the DPRK that had requested vaccines through the facility
• Including the DPRK into climate change negotiations and discussions on the EU and ROK’s “green deals”, possibly together with the Biden green transition plan and China’s promise to decarbonize by 2060
The EUSKOR project has enabled the MSCA fellow to deepen her expertise in European studies while adding a new geographical area – the Korean peninsula and NE Asia – to her research portfolio. Thanks to the EUSKOR project, the MSCA fellow has become one of very few experts who work on the EU-(North) Korea relations, leading to new academic collaborations between the MSCA fellow and other EU and Asia-based scholars. For her work on improving the situation on the Korean peninsula, the MSCA fellow has been selected as one of the 2020 Emerging Leaders by South Korea’s Ministry of Unification. The EUSKOR project has had a positive impact on the future career of the MSCA fellow who has been offered the position of a Korea-Europe Center Fellow at the Institute for Korean Studies, FU Berlin. Furthermore, the MSCA fellow has been awarded the Korea Foundation Policy-Oriented Research grant that will start in the summer 2021 with the same beneficiary, i.e. FU Berlin.
Thanks to reaching high-level decision-makers in Brussels, other European capitals and in South Korea, the EUSKOR project contributed to good relations between the EU, its Member States and South Korea. Moreover, it helped facilitate dialogue between the EU and DPRK. Given its implications for the role of the EU on international stage, the EUSKOR project promoted the EU as a global actor in Asia and beyond. Most of all, however, the EUSKOR project contributed to mutual understanding between the Europeans and the Koreans, both from the South and North, and created new ideas how to solve the conflict on the Korean peninsula. From the societal perspective, this aspect may remain the lasting legacy of the EUSKOR project.
• Appointing an EU Ambassador to the DPRK and opening an EU Delegation, or a liaison office, in Pyongyang
• Allowing to open a DPRK embassy to the EU in Brussels
• Appointing a Special Representative/Envoy for Peace on the Korean Peninsula
• Resuming the EU-DPRK political and human rights dialogues
• Promoting Brussels as a convening point for negotiations with the DPRK and setting-up an international conference on the Korean peninsula
• Drafting a new EU Strategy and/or a “Borrell Peace Plan” for the Korean Peninsula
• Resuming EU humanitarian aid and creating an INSTEX-like facility
• Starting off a “de-sanctioning” process by easing the EU restrictive measures against the DPRK, in agreement with the US and in return for steps towards denuclearization
• Promoting educational and cultural exchanges; bringing North Korean students to the EU via the Erasmus programme
In WP2, in the light of global challenges, the EUSKOR project suggested:
• Using the EU’s contribution to COVAX to engage the DPRK that had requested vaccines through the facility
• Including the DPRK into climate change negotiations and discussions on the EU and ROK’s “green deals”, possibly together with the Biden green transition plan and China’s promise to decarbonize by 2060
The EUSKOR project has enabled the MSCA fellow to deepen her expertise in European studies while adding a new geographical area – the Korean peninsula and NE Asia – to her research portfolio. Thanks to the EUSKOR project, the MSCA fellow has become one of very few experts who work on the EU-(North) Korea relations, leading to new academic collaborations between the MSCA fellow and other EU and Asia-based scholars. For her work on improving the situation on the Korean peninsula, the MSCA fellow has been selected as one of the 2020 Emerging Leaders by South Korea’s Ministry of Unification. The EUSKOR project has had a positive impact on the future career of the MSCA fellow who has been offered the position of a Korea-Europe Center Fellow at the Institute for Korean Studies, FU Berlin. Furthermore, the MSCA fellow has been awarded the Korea Foundation Policy-Oriented Research grant that will start in the summer 2021 with the same beneficiary, i.e. FU Berlin.
Thanks to reaching high-level decision-makers in Brussels, other European capitals and in South Korea, the EUSKOR project contributed to good relations between the EU, its Member States and South Korea. Moreover, it helped facilitate dialogue between the EU and DPRK. Given its implications for the role of the EU on international stage, the EUSKOR project promoted the EU as a global actor in Asia and beyond. Most of all, however, the EUSKOR project contributed to mutual understanding between the Europeans and the Koreans, both from the South and North, and created new ideas how to solve the conflict on the Korean peninsula. From the societal perspective, this aspect may remain the lasting legacy of the EUSKOR project.