The South Korean Perspective
During the early days of Northeast Asian economic cooperation immediately following the end of the Cold War, the China-Japan-Korea FTA (CJK FTA) was considered impossible, not even mentioned as a long-term goal. The Northeast Asian economic community was eventually forwarded as a vision, but without defining what it would be. Even as economic integration proceeded to the point that an FTA of this sort made increasing sense, it was considered difficult to achieve due mainly to non-economic factors such as historical legacies and political rivalries.