South Korea is facing a slew of diplomatic challenges,... with its once-promising relationship with North Korea at a standstill and its ties with Japan sitting at their lowest levels in years.
So we thought we ask an eminent professor what he thought Seoul could do to turn things back into its favor.
Here's our Kim Bo-kyoung.
Jared Diamond, renowned writer of the book 'Guns, Germs and Steel' has come to Korea to promote his new book 'Upheaval',... and has some advice that might help the country find solutions to the diplomatic problems it is currently facing.
In particular,... he made two key recommendations to South Korea regarding its ties with Japan and North Korea.
According to Diamond,... although South Korea and Japan are both facing potential adversaries in the region such as China and North Korea,... unresolved historical issues were hampering their cooperation.
He said a sincere apology from Japan was the key to restoring ties,...but added that Korea must wait patiently... until the Japanese come to a reckoning on its own with the country's wartime past.
Still, the professor emphasized that the two countries need to maintain cooperation in certain areas.
“Both South Korea and Japan face big problems with the depletion of fisheries around the world. Both South Korea and Japan face big problems from dangerous neighbors so even though South Korea and Japan may disagree strongly about somethings, it will be good to work with Japan on the things where you have the same goals to foster cooperation in at least some areas."
Touching upon inter-Korean ties,... Professor Diamond emphasized the importance of steady back-channel dialogue in order to break the current impasse.
He named Finland as a possible benchmark for South Korea to look to,... with the Scandinavian country having found a way to survive despite bordering Russia to the East,... formerly the Soviet Union.
“The Finns learned that what they do is engage in constant discussions. They are not publicized discussions, they are off-the-record discussions with Russia at every level from the presidents to cabinet ministers, to government officials and to low government officials.”
The eminent author shares more of his insight in his new book, showing ways the world can deal with global challenges,... citing the examples of seven countries that went through a national political crisis.
Kim Bo-kyoung, Arirang News.
