Analyse: Great changes have taken place in Northeast Asia in recent years. The end of the Cold War led to decline of former political confrontation among the major powers

With economic reform in most of the developing countries in the area and with economic growth in developed economies of the subregion, regional economic cooperation has taken a great momentum, following increase of intra-regional trade and investment

Recent initiatives on joint development in Northeast Asia, known as Tumen River Development Program, support by the United Nations Development Program, opened discussion on the possibilities of multilateral economic cooperation in the subregion. This also suggests that the area is in the process of "de facto" economic integration