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The culture ministers of South Korea and Japan are set to hold a bilateral meeting Thursday to discuss cooperation on the cultural front amid escalating trade and diplomatic rows between their countries.
The meeting between Culture Minister Park Yang-woo and his Japanese counterpart Masahiko Shibayama, set for Thursday afternoon at a convention center in Incheon, just west of Seoul, was arranged on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the culture and tourism ministers of South Korea, Japan and China.
Coming at a time when the neighboring countries are locked in one of the worst diplomatic rows, the ministers are expected to delve into how to raise cooperation in the culture segment in efforts to find a way out of the bilateral tangle.
Since Japan imposed restrictions on its exports of essential high-tech materials to South Korea last month, bilateral ties have soured drastically.
Last week, Seoul decided to terminate the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan, a bilateral pact that allowed the two countries to share sensitive military intelligence in the face of North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
And the move was followed by Japan's official removal of South Korea from its whitelist of trusted trade partners, sending the bilateral relationship to spiral further down.
Also on Thursday, Park is also scheduled to sit down for talks with his Chinese counterpart, Minister of Culture Luo Shugang. The culture ministers of Japan and China will also hold a separate bilateral meeting of their own the same day.
The trilateral culture and tourism ministers' meeting kicked off at the convention center, Songdo Convensia, for a three-day run to discuss three-way cultural cooperation, as well as to pursue the mutual development of the neighboring countries' tourism.
The second day of the conference Friday will include two major events -- the trilateral meetings of the culture ministers and tourism ministers of the three nations.
South Korea has maintained that the cultural ties with Japan should be separated from the countries' diplomatic and trade tension, calling for continued cultural cooperation and exchanges with Japan.
Source: Yonhap News Agency