❍ The World Leaders Session "Reinventing Cooperation in a Fragmented World," hosted by the Jeju Peace Institute (JPI), was held at the Grand Ballroom ABC of the Haevich Hotel at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 25.

❍ Moderated by Gareth EVANS, Distinguished Honorary Professor at the Australian National University and former Australian Foreign Minister, the panel featured BAN Ki-moon, Chairman of the Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a Better Future and the eighth U.N. Secretary-General; Susilo Bambang YUDHOYONO, former President of Indonesia; HATOYAMA Yukio, President of the East Asian Community Institute and former Prime Minister of Japan; GOMBOJAV Zandanshatar, former Prime Minister of Mongolia; and Philipp RÖSLER, Secretary-General of Global Neighbours and former Vice-Chancellor of Germany.

❍ The discussion was divided into two themes — "the most serious problems facing the international community" and "productive strategies for reinventing cooperation." The participants stressed that restoring multilateralism must become a practical task encompassing institutional reform, stronger accountability, greater implementation capacity, and the rebuilding of trust, and that it must lead to tangible results.

❍ They agreed that, even amid intensifying economic-security and technological competition, strategic channels of dialogue must be kept open in areas of shared human risk such as climate, health, cyber, AI ethics, and nuclear-risk management. East Asian security, they argued, requires a long-term approach combining crisis management, trust-building, and exchanges in history and civil society, with nuclear nonproliferation and AI ethics treated as core agendas for reinventing cooperation.

❍ The panelists also underscored the importance of the Jeju Forum, stressing that international forums like it should serve their proper role as venues where middle powers, international organizations, and civil society explore joint strategies and test cooperative agendas.

❍ BAN Ki-moon, the eighth U.N. Secretary-General, said, "The most serious issues the international community must address today are the climate crisis, intensifying competition among great powers, and the weakening of the U.N. and international organizations," stressing that "even the most powerful and resource-rich nation cannot survive alone — climate change, great-power competition, and the weakening of the U.N. are all issues that cannot be solved without international cooperation." He added that, "despite criticism of multilateralism, the U.N. remains the most authoritative international body capable of carrying out what the international community wants," and that "in reinventing cooperation, the U.N. alone is not enough; middle-power and regional groupings such as MIKTA, ASEAN, ASEAN+3, and the East Asia Summit must also be used creatively.“

❍ Susilo Bambang YUDHOYONO, former President of Indonesia, said, "Power must be checked, and we must not return to an order in which the strong do what they want and the weak endure what they must," urging the international community to "prevent the continued erosion of multilateralism and the spread of extreme nationalism and unilateralism." He added that "regional middle powers and organizations such as Korea, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, and ASEAN must speak and act more to create a balance in U.S.-China competition," and that "unnecessary clashes cannot be prevented without dialogue — middle powers must not stay silent, but speak out more actively.“

❍ HATOYAMA Yukio, former Prime Minister of Japan, said, "When national leaders respect other countries, efforts to resolve issues through dialogue become possible, and war can be prevented," adding that "because artificial intelligence is being used in drones and weapons systems and causing great harm, setting ethical standards for AI is also an important task." He argued that "to reinvent cooperation, we must expand institutionalized dialogue on history and security and increase cooperation on shared tasks such as climate action, energy transition, and the ethics of digital technology," and that "East Asia must move beyond zero-sum security toward common, cooperative, and comprehensive security.“

❍ GOMBOJAV Zandanshatar, former Prime Minister of Mongolia, said, "Multilateralism is still essential, but it is not enough on its own," proposing "goal-oriented minilateral coalitions of five to ten countries centered on specific tasks such as green energy, critical minerals, resilient supply chains, and AI governance." He added that "middle powers should not replace the great powers, but carry on the work the great powers cannot do because of division," and that "a platform like the Jeju Forum can serve as a testing ground where middle powers, international organizations, and civil society build joint strategies and advance multilateral agendas.“

❍ Philipp RÖSLER, former Vice-Chancellor of Germany, said, "The role of national leaders is to distinguish between areas where fair competition is possible and areas where global cooperation is indispensable," stressing that "we live in a fragmented world, but we must keep it from becoming a permanently divided one." He added that "multilateral institutions must prove they can actually make a positive difference on global threats such as climate change," and that "only then can not only middle powers but also great powers and partners return to the table — and for that, multilateral institutions must be reformed.“

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