Summary On December 8, 2022, the January 2023 issue of SEKAI, a magazine published by Iwanami Shoten, printed an article by Professor Yongseok Kwon, GGR researcher a­nd associate professor at Hitotsubashi University’s Graduate School of Law. Reflecting on the current unstable relations between Japan, South Korea, North Korea, a­nd the United States, the professor states that, as the title suggests, he would like to turn back the clock to the year 2002. As reasons for this, he cited the growing mood of friendship between Japan a­nd South Korea since the beginning of the 21st century a­nd the joint hosting of the World Cup. He further argued that the Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration signed in 2002 had the potential to stabilize relations between the two countries. The professor called this paradigm of interlocking Japan-South Korea, North-South, Japan-North Korea, a­nd East Asia the "Illusory 2002 Regime," a­nd discussed that in order to "reconnect" to this regime, we must look back at the events of 2002 a­nd rely on civil solidarity.