Japan and South Korea inked an agreement Tuesday to boost tourism in the runup to the 2002 World Cup soccer finals the two nations will cohost.
Chikage Ogi, the land, infrastructure and transport minister, and Nam Goong Jin, the South Korean minister of culture and tourism, signed the agreement following talks in Seoul.
Under the deal, Japan and South Korea will use the event as an opportunity to attract foreign tourists. Additionally, the tourism chiefs of both countries will hold talks at least once a year on promoting cooperation in tourism.
The agreement is in line with Seoul's position of maintaining a separation between political and economic policies toward Japan amid a souring of bilateral ties due to controversial Japanese junior high school history textbooks and other sensitive issues.
Ogi is in Seoul to attend the 14th general assembly of the Madrid-based World Tourism Organization, which opened Sunday.