1. The “Korea-Japan Festival in Seoul” event, the 2018 round of which marked the 14^th, took place at COEX, Seoul, on September 9 in the presence of distinguished guests from relevant agencies and organizations of the two countries, including Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun and Park Sam-koo, head of the Republic of Korea’s festival committee.

2. In his celebratory remarks at the Festival’s opening ceremony, Vice Minister Cho Hyun, offering congratulations regarding the event, stressed that it is necessary and important for the ROK and Japan to steadily continue exchanges in a bid to advance their bilateral relations in a future-oriented way.

° The Vice Minister brought attention to the year 2018 as the 20^th anniversary of the “Kim Dae-jung-Obuchi Joint Declaration,” which is appreciated as a very constructive move in terms of the ROK-Japan relations. He went on to take note of “the Korea-Japan Festival,” held on an annual basis without fail since 2005 when its first round took place, as a model case in which the spirit of the Joint Declaration is upheld.

※ The Korea-Japan Festival is a signature grass-roots cultural exchange event between the two countries held in Seoul on an annual basis since 2005, “the year of Korea-Japan friendship.” Since 2009, the event has taken place in both Seoul and Tokyo, joined by an annual 50,000 to 60,000 people in the respective countries.

- The “Korea-Japan Festival 2018 in Tokyo” event will take place in Hibiya Park, Tokyo, on September 22 and 23.

° In addition, Vice Minister Cho mentioned that the situation on the Korean Peninsula has been on the path to a new era since the recent inter-Korean summit talks; that ceaseless efforts are under way to achieve the goal of the complete denuclearization of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the establishment of a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula; and that the ROK and Japan should contribute to the establishment of a peace regime not only on the Korean Peninsula but also in Northeast Asia.

3. Prior to the opening ceremony of the Festival, Vice Minister Cho had conversations with major guests, including Park Sam-koo and Mikio Sasaki, heads of the ROK and Japanese festival committees, respectively, as well as Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Iwao Horii and Japanese Ambassador to the ROK Yasumasa Nagamine. They agreed to continue joint efforts to promote friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries through cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

4. In particular, Vice Minister Cho held a separate meeting with Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Iwao Horii, a senior government official of Japan who joined the event. In the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on matters of mutual interest, including such bilateral issues as joint efforts to take the ROK-Japan ties to the next level in the year marking the 20^th anniversary of the Joint Declaration, and the current situation on the Korean Peninsula.

5. The ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as a sponsor of the Korea-Japan Festival, will continue efforts for the event to serve as an opportunity for people of the two countries to experience various aspects of each other’s cultures and to build friendship with each other.