Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Bo Gyoon (middle), Chinese Minister of Culture and Tourism Hu Heping (right), and Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Keiko Nagaoka on Sept. 8 take a group photo while holding their respective copies of the Jeonju Declaration at the 14th culture ministers' meeting of the three countries at National Intangible Heritage Center in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do Province.

By Koh Hyunjeong

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Bo Gyoon has agreed with his counterparts from China and Japan to closely cooperate in boosting trilateral exchanges between future generations and regions and securing competitiveness in cultural content.

He and Chinese Minister of Culture and Tourism Hu Heping and Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Keiko Nagaoka on Sept. 8 jointly adopted the 2023 Jeonju Declaration at the 14th culture ministers' summit of the three countries at National Intangible Heritage Center in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do Province.

"Future generations must be at the center of cultural exchange among the three countries," Minister Park said in his keynote speech. "We can build trust and friendship among countries when youth share their creative, innovative and cultural passion through culture and arts exchange."

The declaration stipulated cooperation in the expansion of trilateral cultural exchanges among youth, reinforcement of regional exchanges including cultural cities in Northeast Asia, guaranteed opportunities for fair access to culture and cultural solutions for international tasks.

The three sides will also boost networks among cultural institutions, strengthen cooperation in cultural content for shared future growth, and pursue cultural and arts exchanges through international sports competitions.

The three ministers announced Gimhae, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province; Weifang and Dalian in China; and Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan as next year's East Asian culture cities and each location received a plaque of its selection. Jeonju, the host of this year's summit, was named an East Asian culture city for this year.

hjkoh@korea.kr