The third Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) held in Seoul last weekend was long on ceremony and performance, but short on substance. While impeccably hosted by South Korea and held in a glittering new conference center in southern Seoul, the conference lacked "soul." For all the talk of Partnership for Shared Stability and Prosperity in the 21st century, there was no sense that this particular partnership would make much of a difference.
While South Korea got a bounce from ASEM, the same cannot be said for the latter. Although the meeting was touted as a historic milestone in the group's evolution, in reality, South Korea's good fortune did not really energize the ASEM process.
Moreover, even if there had been a bounce, the European Union badly fumbled an opportunity to demonstrate unity. Instead of speaking with a single voice on North Korea (whose unseen presence was the second distracting factor in the mix), the EU members seemingly fell over each other as if there was a pot of gold waiting in Pyongyang. Thus, while Germany, the Netherlands and Spain announced their intention to pursue diplomat engagement with the goal of normalization, France and the EU (France currently holds the EU presidency) to their credit, along with Japan, held back, out of concern for human rights in North Korea and the unsettled issue of Pyongyang's proliferation of missile technology.