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Editors from Japan, China and South Korea Hold 1st Gathering

Senior media editors from Japan, China and South Korea met for three days in Seoul in May for their first such gathering. A total of 41 senior editors and journalists from the three countries took part.

Friday 18. July 2008 - Senior media editors from Japan, China and South Korea met for three days in Seoul in May for their first such gathering. A total of 41 senior editors and journalists from the three countries took part.

The event, called the 1st Japan-China-South Korea Editors’ Seminar, served as a forum for discussions about the Internet, the role of the media, and coverage of issues including free trade. The main theme was “Developing New Collaborative Relations in Pursuit Of Deeper Mutual Understanding Among Media Circles.”


Japanese media were represented by a delegation of 12 people from 12 media organizations, led by Toshihiko Uji, an editorial advisor at the Chunichi Shimbun. China’s 10-member delegation represented 10 media corporations, and 19 media people attended on behalf of 16 companies from South Korea.


At the welcoming reception on May 26, Byun Yong Shik, chairman of the Korean News Editors’ Association (KNEA) and editor-in-chief of the Chosun Ilbo, a major South Korean daily newspaper, noted that there had never been a forum for meetings of journalists from the three neighboring countries despite the fact that exchanges of people and merchandise continue to expand among the three countries. He called the seminar a significant first step. He also said that time was ripe for the media in all three countries to transcend narrow mind-sets of race and state consciousness.


Uji, who co-chaired the session on May 27, said that the gathering offered an opportunity to media people from the three countries to discuss the media environment in their respective countries and to deepen mutual understanding.


Jin Dong-guang, chief of Korean-language broadcasting at state-owned China Radio International (CRI), made a keynote presentation. He said that growing competition with U.S. and European media has made it vital for the media in the three countries to strengthen their cooperation. Specifically, Jin called for a system to share information among media in the three countries and to promote joint projects in newsgathering and content production, as well as in other fields.


In the subsequent discussion, participants exchanged views on how the media should interact with the free flow of information and opinions in the Internet, factors that can stir up narrow-minded nationalism and excess emotionalism under the guise of anonymity.


As for a media role in promoting cooperation among the three countries, the Japanese insisted that the media should demand full access to information and freedom in newsgathering. The Chinese delegation said that news reporting should be made on the basis of confirmed facts in order to promote better relations among the three countries.


A Japan-China-South Korea forum was originally proposed by the South Korean delegation at the Japan-South Korea Editors Seminar, in 2006, in Tokyo. The new forum is to be held every two years, with the next meeting set for Tokyo in 2010.