Calls For Closer Cultural Ties

Ministers from Korea, China and Japan discuss expanding cultural and youth exchange and cooperation

Cultural ministers for Korea, Japan and China met for a trilateral meeting from Dec. 24-26 on Jeju Island to boost cultural exchange among the three neighboring countries.
Minister Yu In-chon of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for Korea, Minister Tamotsu Aoki of the Ministry of Culture of Japan, and Cai Wu, the Minister of Culture of China gathered on Jeju Island on Dec. 24 for the second cultural ministerial meeting of the three countries and issued a joint declaration at the end of their talks on Dec. 25.
They held bilateral meetings before the three-party meeting on Dec. 25.
The joint Jeju Declaration said the three countries will try to expand mutual understanding through strengthened exchanges of diverse cultural genres and create common cultural values. They agreed to expand exchanges involving human joint cultural creativity in the area of culture and arts including art education, exhibition, performance and literature.
The three ministers also agreed that exchange and cooperation in the cultural industrial sector will be in the common interest of their countries and will strengthen the competitive strength of cultural properties of the three countries. They also agreed to expand exchanges and cooperation in the area of the protection of intellectual property rights.
The three ministers also agreed to strengthen each country's efforts to preserve their own cultural assets so that their cultural heritages will be highly valued around the world. Through this connection, they will help each other in the development of technologies and jointly own them for the protection of cultural heritages.
They also shared the common concern that they should make efforts in their respective countries to expand the environmental themes in their creative products to ensure that global warming is treated as a critical issue. They also agreed to hold expert-level meetings to follow through on the agreements they reached.
Korea and China signed an MOU on the exchange of people and material in the area of the gaming industry. The three ministers discussed the expansion of exchanges in the film production industry by setting up a joint film production firm.
Minister Yu, in his opening speech at the three-way meeting, said other regions in the world founded their cooperation on politics and economy and Asia will begin with culture. And in this connection, he would like to propose the establishment of an Asian cultural capital by launching "Asian Cultural Month" from 2012 to hold various cultural events. He went on to say that the paradigm of the 21st century is made of cultural material and the Northeast Asian countries should build a cultural belt for a broader exchange with the rest of the world. He also said that the ministers shared the understanding that the 21st century is a period for creativity, imagination, openness and integration, and the three countries should make efforts to realize the ideal, which they understood was not a small task.
Japanese Minister Aoki said, "We three countries should make the same effort toward the same direction at the same time in a positive manner," adding that the joint declaration last September at the first trilateral cabinet ministerial meeting, is a phenomenal event that emerged for the first time in the 4,000 years of the histories of the three countries. He went on to say that the Jeju meeting is the continuation of the spiritual legacy of such a meeting and should aim at forming more firmly a base to open the new century through cultural exchanges among the three countries. Chinese cultural minister Cai Wu said, "Our three countries can help resolve the global financial crisis through cultural exchanges and cooperation." One of the highlights of the event was a joint performance of traditional musical instruments: the Korean kayagum, an ancient stringed instrument, the Japanese goto, also an ancient Japanese stringed instrument, and an ancient Chinese instrument, the earlhu. There also was a joint performance among Jazz musicians from the three countries.
The diplomatic meeting ended with a showing of movies made by filmmakers from the three countries on Dec. 26. nw

Minister Yu In-chon at the trilateral tourism meeting of Korea, Japan and China held Dec. 24-26 at Jeju Island. Minister Yu, in the center, and Minister Tamotsu Aoki of the Ministry of Culture of Japan, right, and Minister Cai Mu of the Ministry of Culture of China shake hands as they meet for the trilateral tourism meeting on Jeju Island.