Year 2002 is said to be the Year of Japan-Korea National Exchange - can you tell us why this year has been designated as such? In addition, the 2002 FIFAWorld Cup^TM Soccer Games will be held in both countries. Please tell us about specific events and festivities that will be taking place in Japan and the ROK.

On the occasion of the visit of President Kim Dae Jung of the Republic of Korea to Japan in 1998, two leaders concluded that Japan and the Republic of Korea should use the momentum provided by the 2002 FIFA World Cup^TM co-hosted by Japan and the ROK to vitalize cultural exchange. In the following year 1999, the then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi of Japan and the then Prime Minister Kim Jong Pil of the Republic of Korea reached a formal agreement to make 2002 the Year of Japan-ROK National Exchange.

Facing this historic year of co-hosted the World Cup, the aim of the Year of Exchange is to give a strong boost to the atmosphere of friendship between the two countries in the new century and to further cement the firm partnership between them by means of richly varied events.

Our exchange programs of traditional culture include, for example, the Japan-Korea Joint Court Music Concerts in May (7 to 9 May, National Theatre of Japan in Tokyo; 12 to 13 May, National Bunraku Theatre of Japan in Osaka; 23 to 24 May National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts in Seoul; 27 to 28 May Pusan Cultural Center) as well as an exchange of exhibitions of valuable antiques from the two countries in the form of the Masterpieces of Japanese Art exhibition (scheduled for 14 May to 14 July, National Museum of Korea in Seoul) and the Dynastic Heritage of Korea exhibition (11 June to 28 July, Tokyo National Museum).

During 2002 FIFA World Cup^TM co-hosted by Japan and the ROK (31 May to 30 June), many performing arts such as the Japan-ROK and Japan-ROK-China PAC2002 and "Sono kawa wo koete, gogatsu" ("Across the River in May") will be held . There are expected to be increased exchanges of music, film and animation throughout the year. There will also be unique events introducing the life and culture of both countries, such as the Exhibition of Japanese Life and Culture (February to May, National Folk Museum of Korea in Seoul) and the Exhibition of Korean Life and Culture (March to July, National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka). From autumn, the program will comprise the Korea Super Expo 2002 (19 to 23 June, Makuhari Messe (Nippon Convention Center) in Chiba) and the 3rd Japan Festival in Korea (17 to 22 October, Kwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall and Kwangju Art and Culture Center), which will bring the industries, products and entertainments of each country together under one roof.

The Japan-Korea People's Exchange Festival 2002 is a unique program recreating the Korean delegation to Japan, which was sent to Japan as a cultural and diplomatic envoy of the Chosun Dynasty during the Edo Period at the time of the change of the Tokugawa Shogun. This program will consist of regional exchange events held between September and November in different cities in the ROK and every local city in Japan which has a connection to the Korean delegation to Japan, culminating in the main exchange event to be held at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba in November. Various human exchange programs, where parades of people made up mainly of Korean youths dressed in costumes of the Korean delegation to Japan, are expected to be promoted. Other unique and richly varied programs are planned, and the detailed information is available at the Event Calendar page on the Japan Korea Exchange Express homepage (http://www.jpf.go.jp/jkxx/) and elsewhere.