With major-power diplomacy on North Korea stalled, the author argues ASEAN can play a useful complementary role—using distance and regional sensitivity to keep dialogue open without replacing existing security frameworks.

Practical tools already exist: the ASEAN Regional Forum for risk-reduction and communication, and ASEAN–UN humanitarian channels (food, health) that can operate within current sanctions without looking like political pressure.

Longer-term ideas include Track II exchanges, lessons from Southeast Asian economic and nuclear-weapon-free-zone cooperation, and treating peace as a multi-channel process rather than a single summit outcome.

The crisis on the Korean Peninsula is one of the most sensitive and volatile issues around the world. North Korea has become more aggressive in recent years in pursuing its nuclear ambitions, while deep-seated rivalries and growing tensions between major powers in the region have created new humanitarian challenges and conflicts. Diplomacy pursued by the US, China, Japan, and South Korea that could bring a lasting solution to the crisis on the Korean Peninsula has so far yielded no results. 

Under such circumstances, it would be worth considering the roles that could be played by new actors. ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a regional organization comprising countries in Southeast Asia, would be an especially suitable actor to consider in this connection. Their unique perspective, based on their geographical distance from the Korean Peninsula but at the same time intense sensitivity to developments in the region, would undoubtedly be of great value in promoting dialogue and seeking a solution to the crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Their partnership with the United Nations would not be intended to replace or undermine........

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