Dark shadows hung over this year’s Asan Plenum. Wearing yellow ribbons and also observing moments of silence, the participants were in a somber mood owing to the sinking of the Sewol and the futile search for survivors still under way. The theme of the gathering did little to lighten the atmosphere. Despite brief references to more positive precedents, most examples of lessons to be drawn from history cited past times of failed diplomacy or of developments once per ceived as successes but now seen as missed opportunities. Recalled were the dates of anniversaries likely to be remembered in 2014/2015: 1894—the Sino-Japanese War; 1914—the First World War; 1945—the end of the Second World War; 1965—the normalization of South Korean-Japanese relations, now deemed to have left critical issues unresolved; and 1989—once celebrated as the “end of history,” but now seen as a time when East Asia and the world were left with festering wounds. Sandwiched between the fear of war erupting in Ukraine, breaking down the post Cold War Euro-Atlantic order, and preparations for a fourth nuclear test in nearby North Korea, referred to as a “game-changer” in the Asia-Pacific, the plenum struggled to look ahead to light at the end of the tunnel instead of back to depressing memories now regaining their relevance.

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