Japan, China and South Korea agreed Thursday to conduct a joint study to assess pollution and climate impacts in the Arctic, wrapping up their latest talks on how to develop the region, Japanese officials said.
The agreement on joint scientific research and exploration comes amid increased global attention on navigation and resource development in the Arctic Ocean, which hosts untapped oil, gas and rare earth metal deposits. Due to the rapidly melting ice, countries are keen to open new routes to slash transport times between Europe and Asia.
Under the agreement reached during high-level talks at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, the three countries will collect basic data, including on the levels of marine pollution in the Arctic Ocean, according to the officials.