Overview of the Japan-Republic of Korea Summit Meeting

I. Toward Peace and Stability in the Region

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and President Kim Dae Jung agreed on the following points:

• Within the various frameworks for regional cooperation including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) +3 (Japan, Republic of Korea (ROK), People's Republic of China), and trilateral cooperation between Japan, the ROK and China, Japan and the ROK will make a significant contribution to the prosperity of the East Asian region as a whole through active cooperation between the two countries. In addition, cooperation will be undertaken to ensure that the report of the East Asia Study Group (EASG) is of high quality content.
• Mutual visits by the Foreign Ministers of each country will be realized by the end of the year to further promote close policy dialogue between the governments of the two countries. In addition, as a support to the policy dialogue at the summit and foreign minister-level, regular meetings will be held every year at the vice minister level.

II. Toward Promoting Mutual Understanding and Nurturing Friendship

Given the opportunity offered by the joint hosting of the 2002 FIFA World Cup and the Year of Japan-ROK National Exchange in 2002, in the hope of working towards deepening of national exchange and mutual understanding as well as nurturing of friendship in the future, both leaders agreed to the following points:

• With the hope that Japan and the ROK would, hand in hand, make the first jointly hosted World Cup a resounding success, Prime Minister Koizumi expressed his intention to attend the opening ceremony of the World Cup, to be held on 31 May in Seoul in the ROK, to which President Kim Dae Jung responded that he hoped to attend the final match and closing ceremony of the tournament, to be held on 30 June in Yokohama in Japan. In addition, Prime Minister Koizumi conveyed to President Kim Dae Jung that it was currently being considered for Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Takamado to attend the opening ceremony.
• From the perspective of further promoting mutual understanding between the two countries, the Government of Japan has, from the beginning of 2002, relaxed visa regulations for citizens of the ROK coming to Japan, and given the historical significance of the joint hosting of the World Cup, it has been decided to waiver all visa requirements for citizens of the ROK for a fixed period including the time of the World Cup. President Kim expressed his gratitude for this move. In addition, consultations will continue in the hope that in order to promote human exchange between the two countries further, in cases where certain conditions are fulfilled, permanent visa waiver can be granted.
• The plan to expand transportation capacity when the Narita airport interim parallel runaway comes into service on 18 April was welcomed. (Note: Measures aimed at all countries, including the ROK, will be introduced from April, expanding the slots for late night and early morning charter flights into and out of Haneda airport, and this framework will be further expanded to enable daytime charter flight arrivals and departures during the period of the World Cup)
• In order to gain further momentum about the World Cup and vitalize tourism, the Government of Japan has decided that during the period of the World Cup, in order to reduce traveling expenses of foreign tourists, special discount prices for land, sea and air routes will be introduced in cooperation with operators of these routes.
• In order to lead the Year of Japan-ROK National Exchange to a success, the governments of both countries will support exchange activities in a wide-range of areas, including cultural, sports and youth exchange in both public and private sectors. For example, they will actively support theater performances, which will be jointly held by Japan and the ROK during the World Cup and jointly implement events such as the Masterpieces of Japanese Art Exhibition, the Dynastic Heritage of Korea Exhibition, and the Japan-Korea People's Exchange Festival 2002.
• In the wake of the Year of Japan-ROK National Exchange, from the perspective of further improving youth exchange between the two countries, the framework for the issuance of working holiday visas will be greatly expanded, and the number of such visas increased from their present figure of 1000, to 1800 per year.
• The Japan-ROK New Century Project will be implemented to promote the invitation of 100 (FY2002) elementary and junior-high school teachers, sports exchange activities and the enhancement of support for mutual language learning, and in this way the promotion of mutual understanding will be achieved.
• The establishment of the Japan Foundation Japan Cultural Center in Seoul was welcomed and support will be provided for its activities.
• The launch of the Japan-ROK Joint History Research Promotion Plan was welcomed and the first meeting of the Joint Support Committee will be held as soon as possible. Support will be given to enable the convening of the first meeting of the Joint History Research Committee during April. Through earnest discussions within this joint history research, it is expected that the mutual understanding of historical recognition between the two countries will be deepened. The governments of both countries will actively support the Joint History Research Committee, in order that results can be achieved within two years.

III Toward Prosperity

The two leaders welcomed the steady progress in implementing bilateral cooperation based on the Japan-ROK Economic Agenda 21 and agreed to the following points, in order to solidify further Japan-ROK Economic Partnership towards greater prosperity of both countries:

• The signing of the Japan-ROK Investment Agreement was welcomed and it was decided to advance promptly the procedures prescribed therein, aiming for the swift entry into force of the agreement. In addition, regarding the Japan-ROK Social Security Agreement, the starting of preparatory consultations at the end of last year was welcomed. Furthermore, it was announced that in actively tackling this issue, the preparatory consultations could expect to result in a move to substantive negotiations in the future.
• Agreement was made on the establishment of an industry-government-academia research group on the Japan-ROK free trade agreement. It was decided that with the agreement of the two countries, a research group would be promptly established and a report compiled.
• Concerning a mutual recognition, it was decided that work on this issue would be accelerated, based on Agenda 21, and based on the results consultations would be advanced after narrowing down the areas which bear larger practical benefits.
• The Government of Japan announced that regarding pork produced in the ROK, if there were concerns raised through public comments, the certification of the ROK as a foot and mouth disease-free country would be completed in mid-April and that the ban on imports would be lifted from Cheju island, where swine cholera does not exist.
• In addition to evaluating the steady implementation of the Japan-ROK IT Cooperation Initiative, it was decided to advance IT cooperation given the momentum provided by the World Cup. In addition, it was announced that through the Second Asia IT Summit to be held in June this year in Seoul, it was expected that Japan-ROK cooperation would lead the development of IT in Asia. (Note: The main activities prescribed by the Japan-ROK IT Cooperation Initiative are as follows: Mutual recognition for examinations for information technology processing engineers (memorandum was concluded in December 2001), mutual recognition for a privacy mark system (memorandum was concluded in February 2002), the promotion of a Japan-ROK high-speed satellite transmission experiment, the development of a fourth generation (4G) mobile communications system, and cooperation on standardization, etc.)
• It was decided that the Fourth Japan-ROK High-level Economic Consultations would take place in July this year, and on this occasion the state of progress of the Action Plan, the Agenda 21, and the Japan-ROK IT Cooperation Initiative would be reviewed. It was announced that towards the strengthening of economic relations, beneficial discussions were expected to be held.

IV. Toward Deepening Cooperative Relations on the International Stage

The two leaders affirmed the importance of not only strengthening bilateral relations, but also further developing Japan-ROK cooperative relations in the international community for the future. It was decided that various cooperation including the following points would be realized through discussions at the vice minister level and others.

• The importance of Japan-ROK cooperation in the area of the international fight against terrorism was affirmed and consultations will be implemented between the ambassadors of each country in charge of cooperation in the international fight against terrorism. In addition, concerning support for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, efforts towards reconstruction and peace will be made through bilateral consultations and close contact on the ground.
• In the Oecusse region of East Timor, cooperation will be undertaken to ensure that the operations of military personnel from both countries, who are undertaking activities for the first time together under a United Nations Peacekeeping Operation (PKO), will be a success.
• It was decided that cooperation would be made toward advancing the new round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations and that in the future cooperation would continue in such areas as agriculture and rules*. (* Existing areas such as anti-dumping (AD), and new areas such as investment rules and trade facilitation)
• Concerning the issue of the global environment, in addition to Japan and the ROK taking a leading role in the promotion of environmental cooperation in the Northeast Asian region, active cooperation will be undertaken towards the resolution of the issues surrounding climate change and towards the success of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg Summit). The ROK's forthcoming full accession to the International Energy Agency (IEA) on 28 March 2002 was welcomed.