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It was at an international forum hosted by the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) in October 2012 and before Park Geun-hye was President of Korea that she first used the term 'Asian Paradox.' It received attention when she noted, "In Northeast Asia, there is what I call the Asian Paradox," in a written interview with a daily newspaper in June 2013 before her state visit to Beijing for a summit with her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. She was referring to the paradoxical coexistence of increasing conflicts in political and security issues and deepening complex economic interdependence in East Asia. The East Asian region accounts for no less than 20 percent of the world's GDP, and economic exchange taking place in the region is so active that it is even thought that the center of world economy is shifting away from the Atlantic and toward Asia. Ironically, however, East Asia is also struggling with the arms race, nuclear development, and intractable conflicts such as ones over territorial and historical issues, which are increasingly getting worse.

In Europe, there was a movement after WWII to integrate the countries in the region into a single community, in an effort to keep war from happening again. In other words, they began a long journey with the anticipation that once economical exchange and interdependence intensified, the spirit and act of cooperation would eventually spread to politics and security. Finally, after many twists and turns, the Cold War has ended, and the integration of Europe has been accomplished. The Asian Paradox points out that this spread effect, as experienced by Europe, is not happening in Asia yet.

Until the 1990s, the biggest obstacle to security dialogue and cooperation in East Asia had been North Korea. Starting from the 2000s, however, the confrontation among the three Northeast Asian countries of Korea, China, and Japan have intensified over historical and territorial issues as Japanese society rapidly shifted to the right and the issues of territory, the Japanese textbooks, and Japanese politicians' visits to the Yasukuni Shrine added to the existing historical controversies. In around 2010, as the confrontation between Korea and Japan over Dokdo and the confrontation between China and Japan over the Senkaku Islands intensified, the confrontation among the three countries spread over to historical issues in general. This happened against the background of not only the right shift of Japanese politics and society but complex political and social factors, including the rise of China and the decreasing gap in power among the three countries.

The rapid rise of China has thrown the international community into a great confusion because of the uncertainties surrounding China's future foreign policy and international relations. While the U.S. is still strong enough to maintain its status as the only superpower in the world, its domestic problems, such as fiscal deficit or politics, are keeping it from exercising independent leadership in the East Asian regional order. To establish a stable future East Asian order, the U.S. will need trilateral cooperation with Korea and Japan. The international community believes that Korea-Japan cooperation is the minimum guarantee for reducing the uncertainties arising from the rise of China. That's why many countries are hoping that the East Asian region will overcome this paradox.