DCAF's Asia-Pacific Unit (APU) has five partnerships with institutions from East Asia, representing China, Japan, Mongolia, South Korea, and Taiwan. APU's security sector governance network thus spans the entire region, bar for North Korea. It is working hard to maintain and intensify its presence in the region. 

From 14 to 16 November 2019 the first SSG Forum in East Asia was held in Seoul, South Korea. The forum saw discussion on a range of SSG/R topics affecting East Asia, with key themes being civilian oversight over military and police, gender and security, cybersecurity governance, maritime security, but also the challenges of increasing regional tensions and the nuclearization of North Korea.

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Since then, there have been (as of Feb 2021) 5 national working group meetings, two of which in South Korea, and one each in China, Japan, and Taiwan. Representatives from various parts of security sectors (e.g. civil society, military, parliament, justice system) discuss challenges and opportunities in these national working group meetings. They provide a platform for discussion on how to move forward with improving security sector governance at the national level. You can read more about these NWG meetings on our activities feed.

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