Epidemic Cooperation in Northeast Asia : Focusing on the Cases of SARS and Bird Flu

Non-traditional aspects of human security directly interact with traditional aspects of national security and can be integrated into existent international relations theories. The ‘human security’ paradigm encourages the field of international relations to understand that international conflict can come from any number of sources including infectious disease. Epidemic problems are becoming important issues in maintaining stability and peace of current Northeast Asia. In the 21st century Northeast Asian countries are facing various kinds of problems, especially health problems such as SARS and Bird Flu. They cannot solve the problems without their neighboring countries’ cooperation. For the successful cooperation they need to change their notion of security from ‘national’ security only for national interest to ‘human’ security for human rights. Or, they need to redefine the notion of national security, as a comprehensive concept, including human security. Health regimes in Northeast Asia should be based on their common notion of security in the region and a principle of reciprocity.