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On July 15, 2026, the International Seminar on Global Governance for Human Security, co-organized by the Global Network Program, was held in a hybrid format.

The seminar welcomed Dr. Seungho Lee, Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies and the Division of International Studies at Korea University. Under the theme “Emergence of Lancang Mekong Cooperation & its Impacts on the Mekong River Basin,” he used water diplomacy as an analytical framework to examine how the relationship between China and the Lower Mekong countries has changed since the establishment of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) in 2015. In the Mekong River Basin, which spans a catchment area of 795,000 km² and is home to more than 70 million people, Chinese dams built upstream have raised concerns over downstream livelihoods and ecosystems. At the same time, concrete data showed how the LMC—built around three pillars (political and security issues; social and cultural exchanges; and economic development) and five priority areas—has emerged as a framework that rivals, or in some respects replaces, the Mekong River Commission. While achievements such as financial support through the LMC Special Fund and the Belt and Road Initiative, and progress in hydrological data sharing following the 2019 drought, were introduced, the lecture also addressed challenges including limits to data sharing and overlapping roles with existing frameworks, as well as criticism that this amounts to “dressing up domination as cooperation.”

A total of 23 students, faculty, and staff members participated in the seminar, with 16 attending in person and 7 joining online. The question-and-answer session featured active discussions on theoretical questions regarding how flexibly the water diplomacy framework can be applied across cooperation mechanisms of different scales, the differences and distinctive features of the LMC and other cooperation frameworks, and India’s role and involvement, as well as questions on hydropower development in Lao PDR and human resource development in Myanmar. The seminar offered a valuable opportunity to deepen participants’ understanding of water diplomacy in the Mekong River Basin and to reflect on how transboundary water resource management will continue to evolve.