The Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD) is a unique multilateral “track II” forum involving foreign ministry officials, defense ministry officials, military officers, and academics from China, Russia, North and South Korea, Japan, and the United States. NEACD keeps vital lines of communication open in Northeast Asia by providing regularly scheduled meetings in an informal setting, allowing participants to candidly discuss issues of regional security and cooperation. NEACD requires that officials participate in their personal capacity, not as representatives for their governments, and that all discussions be kept off-the-record, rules that permit brainstorming and frank discussion of divergent views. The mixture of government officials and scholars contributes to the free-wheeling style of discussion. The 13th dialogue included participants from China, Russia, U.S.A., South Korea, North Korea, and Japan, and covered national perspectives on security, defense information sharing, and regional implications of energy supply and demand trends. This dialogue was also important in that it was the first of the dialogues North Korea had attended since taking part in the inception in 1993.