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Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Jongdeok, Chinese Culture Minister Luo Shugang and Japanese State Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Hiroyuki Yoshiie attend the seventh Korea-China-Japan Culture Ministers’ Meeting in Qingdao, China, on Dec. 20.

Culture ministers from Korea, China and Japan have agreed to further enhance trilateral exchanges and cooperation across the arts, sports and other cultural activities.

The agreement was made as Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Jongdeok, Chinese Culture Minister Luo Shugang and Japanese State Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Hiroyuki Yoshiie came together at the seventh Korea-China-Japan Culture Ministers’ Meeting, held in Qingdao, China, on Dec. 20.

During the talks, the ministers discussed ways to increase exchanges across such cultural industries, and to consolidate networks between organizations involved in the field. They also discussed how to ramp up joint efforts to protect and keep intact cultural traditions for future generations, as well as how to effectively conduct youth exchange programs.

The talks also brought about an agreement by which the three ministers would choose “Culture Cities of East Asia” each year, cities where the three countries would implement numerous cultural events and programs. They chose Korea’s Jeju Island, China’s Ningbo in Zhejiang Province and Japan’s Nara in Nara Prefecture as the three 2016 Culture Cities of East Asia.

Another item on the table was the need to co-host art festivals, as the ministers vowed to further negotiate on the possibility of hosting joint Korea-China-Japan art festivals together in other parts of the world.

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Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Jongdeok (left), Chinese Culture Minister Luo Shugang (cenbter) and Japanese State Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Hiroyuki Yoshiie (right) pose for a commemorative photo after signing the Qingdao Action Plan. This culture-related agenda outlines areas of cooperation in the arts, sports and related activities, and was agreed upon at the seventh Korea-China-Japan Culture Ministers’ Meeting in Qingdao, China, on Dec. 20.

As for sports, the ministers agreed to join forces on the upcoming Olympic Games scheduled for the three nations: the PyeongChang Winter Olympics 2018, the Tokyo Sumer Olympics 2020 and the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022. They aim to help people from all around the world get a better understanding of each host nation’s traditions and arts.

Minister Kim Jongdeok laid out new closer ties between the three nations, taking advantage of what each nation has in common: Confucianism. The minister said in his keynote speech, “Let’s work together to focus on the virtue of filial piety — hyo (효, 孝) — one of the key elements of our Confucian philosophy, and propagate the idea around the world. The principle of such filial duty should be centered on overcoming an exclusive, blood-tied society and integrating generations based on respect for the elderly and neighbors in general, as well as for one’s parents.”

The meeting came to an end with the adoption of the Qingdao Action Plan. In regard to the newly adopted agenda, Chinese Culture Minister Luo Shugang stated that, “Compared to the 2012 Shanghai Action Plan, this year’s plan has expanded trilateral cooperation across more areas and enhanced our cooperation. In the future, we will focus more efforts on boosting cultural interchanges and also on bringing our Asian traditions to the world.”

By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
jiae5853@korea.kr