The end of the Cold War signaled a new era in Northeast Asian economic cooperation, leading trade and investment to increase substantially in the 1990s. However, given the characteristics of Northeast Asia, such as different political and economic systems, disparate levels of economic development and historical remnants, until recently, regional economic integration was essentially driven by market forces without any organized efforts from the central governments to enhance regional economic cooperation. Therefore, Northeast Asia still lags behind the other major regions in terms of regional economic cooperation and there is still no regional economic cooperation body let alone a regional trade agreement among the Northeast Asian economies. (The rest is omitted.)

Part I Rationale for Enhancing Northeast Asian Economic Cooperation and Some
Possible Options
1. Rationale for Institutionalizing Northeast Asian Economic Cooperation
and Some Possible Options-3
2. Reflections on Economic Integration in Northeast Asia - 33
3. Rationale for Enhancing Northeast Asian Economic Cooperation and Some
Possible Options:
A European Perspective - 65

Part II Toward Formal Economic Integration in Northeast Asia: Beginning with a
Bilateral FTA
4. Toward Formal Economic Integration in Northeast Asia: Beginning with a
Bilateral FTA - 115
5. A Bilateral or Trilateral FTA? - 137
6. Emerging Bilateral Free Trade Agreements in Northeast Asia: Building
Blocs and Stumbling
Blocs - 163

Part III Investment Cooperation in Northeast Asia
7. Toward Northeast Asian Production Networks - 195
8. Need for Developing Financing and Policy Initiatives in Northeast Asia
- 229
9. Need for Developing Financing and Policy Initiatives in North Korea -
253

Part IV Financial Cooperation in Northeast Asia
10. Monetary and Financial Cooperation in East Asia: The Chiang Mai
Initiative and Beyond - 295
11. Toward an Asian Currency Union - 311

Part V Major Findings and Policy Implications
Comments - 379