The culture and tourism ministers of South Korea, Japan and China yesterday agreed to step up cultural, sports and people-to-people exchanges, despite tensions over trade and their shared history.
Their meeting in the South Korean port city of Incheon came amid an escalating trade and diplomatic dispute between Japan and South Korea, as well as an intensifying regional rivalry with a rising China.
The three countries promote cultural exchanges, but differing views on their shared history, in particular the legacy of the Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula and parts of China, have often hampered those efforts.
Photo: EPA-EFE
South Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo, Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Masahiko Shibayama and Chinese Minister of Culture and Tourism Luo Shugang (雒樹剛) promised more cultural, sports and people-to-people exchanges over the next 10 years.
During that time, Tokyo is to host next year’s Summer Olympics and Beijing the 2022 Winter Olympics.
“The three countries made it clear that future cultural exchanges and cooperation should be conducted based on the principles of mutual respect and reciprocity, and in a way that promotes cultural diversity and peace in East Asia,” the ministers said in a joint statement.
Park and Luo held separate talks with Japanese Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Keiichi Ishii and adopted another declaration pledging efforts to boost cooperation on tourism.
Park and Shibayama shared a cordial handshake alongside Luo as they signed agreements aimed at expanding three-way cultural programs, in contrast to the frosty exchanges between the South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers in the past few months.
Park and Shibayama on Thursday held separate talks, in which they agreed to continue cultural cooperation, despite the political and economic feud, the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said in a statement.
More civilian exchanges were needed to mend ties, Shibayama was quoted as saying by Japan’s Kyodo news agency.
“Japan-South Korea relations are in a tough spot and deepening exchanges at the grassroots level through cooperation in the cultural field will help improve relations,” Shibayama told reporters after the three-way meeting.
Park later yesterday also met with Ishii and they agreed on the need for more tourist exchanges and to work to “tackle relevant issues,” the ministry said.
Relations between South Korea and Japan worsened late last year after the South Korean Supreme Court ordered compensation for some Koreans forced to work at Japanese firms during Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation.
This month, Japan stripped South Korea of fast-track export status, which prompted South Korea to drop Japan from its own list and end a bilateral intelligence-sharing accord.
The row has taken a toll on tourist exchanges, with South Koreans canceling travel plans as part of a boycott of Japanese products and services.
The number of South Korean visitors to Japan last month fell to its lowest in nearly a year, the Japan Tourism Agency said last week.
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