After 20 years, APEC returned to Korea, but it feels different. Leaders arrived in Gyeongju for the first Korean-hosted summit since Busan 2005, but the optimism that defined APEC twenty years ago has vanished. The hallways are full, the cameras are flashing, yet something vital has gone missing.
APEC was the fruit yogurt of multilateralism. An unnatural panoply of fruits from across the region — summits, declarations, handshakes and hesitatingly hilarious national costume photo shoots.
