South Korea's gradual lifting of its decades-old ban on the import of Japanese popular culture entered its fourth phase this month, paving the way for the legal circulation of Japanese CDs, game software and all nonanimated films.

But as the deregulation expands to items more readily available for mass consumption, industry players and others are becoming increasingly jittery over the potential negative effects.

The Japanese CD industry, for one, has mixed reactions about the latest move, with many players viewing it as a double-edged sword.

Japanese music CDs and game software are popular with South Korean youth, who have access to such items via the Internet and pirated discs.

The easing of the ban gives Japanese CD firms the opportunity to penetrate the South Korean market, which they say has some potential despite its relatively small size. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, some 228.9 million CDs were sold in Japan in 2002, while the corresponding figure for South Korea was 21.4 million.

At the same time, however, some industry experts fear Japan will see a flood of cheap CDs reimported from South Korea.

On Wednesday, Sony Music Entertainment Inc. began selling CDs of the Japanese rock group Tube, and is expected to follow with other artists, including Ken Hirai and Chemistry.

"We hope the move will boost the entire East Asian pop music market," and not just South Korea, Sony Music spokesman Yasushi Ide said.

But while Ide may enthuse, not a few CD companies are worried about "reimportation," as Japanese CDs sold in other parts of Asia are already in circulation here.

The private think tank Institute for the Arts estimates that about 590,000 CDs will be reimported to Japan from Asia this fiscal year. The figure is equivalent to about 0.24 percent of the 250 million CDs by Japanese musicians produced in Japan in fiscal 2002.

Jiro Imamura, an official of the Recording Industry Association of Japan, said the association sees reimportation as a threat to domestic CD sales.

"The same problem (of reimports) can emerge once Japanese CDs go on sale in South Korea," he said, explaining that prices for CDs there are generally about half those in Japan.

Ritsuko Jinno, a spokeswoman for Toshiba-EMI Ltd., said the company plans to sell a "best of" collection by the band Dreams Come True in South Korea, but it too is concerned about possible reimports.

Avex Inc. has already implemented measures in other parts of Asia to block reimports, and said it will take similar steps in South Korea.

For example, when a company in one country placed an order for 50,000 copies of a CD by a Japanese artist that earlier sold 10,000 copies, Avex checked to see whether the musician had become popular or whether the CDs were for reimport to Japan, according to spokesman Toshihide Yamada.

To protect the domestic market, RIJA has called on the government to regulate CD reimports.

In response, the Cultural Affairs Agency is expected to submit legislation to ban the reimportation of Japanese CDs sold overseas as early as fiscal 2004.

Under the current Copyright Law, reimporting CDs into Japan is not punishable as long as they are sold legally and the Japanese music firms have condoned the overseas sale of their discs. Agency officials said the planned revisions to the law would make reimportation of CDs illegal.

Despite such concerns, however, South Korea's easing of its ban on the import of Japanese culture is widely seen as a great step forward in improving ties between the two countries.

Japanese pop culture was shut out of the Korean Peninsula with the end of Japan's colonial rule in 1945, reflecting popular resentment toward all things Japanese after decades of repression. Even after diplomatic ties were normalized in 1965, South Korea maintained the ban on the influx of Japanese pop culture through administrative guidance.

But in 1998, then President Kim Dae Jung decided to lift the ban in line with his vision of changing the relationship between the two countries into a future-oriented one.

Masaya Fujimura, adviser to Mitsubishi Material Corp. and honorary president of the Japan-Korea Economic Association, observed that Japan and South Korea now enjoy the friendliest relationship in the history of the two countries.

When businessmen of the two nations met to discuss economic issues 10 years ago, the atmosphere was frigid, he recalled.

"Whenever our opinions clashed, (the South Koreans) asked what we Japanese thought of (Japan's) 38 years of colonial rule," he said. "But such an atmosphere doesn't exist anymore."

Fujimura said he was told of the plans for the latest easing of the import ban when he visited South Korea in August for an annual event of the Japan-Korea Cultural Foundation, which he chairs.

"(The foundation's Japanese and South Korean members) were so glad, as we believed it marked the start of new era of bilateral culture exchange," he said.

Meanwhile, there are numerous ways the deregulation can help stimulate South Korean culture and take it to new levels.

Yoo Jin Hwan, director of the Korean Cultural Center of the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo, noted that the release of Japanese movies has had a positive impact on the South Korean film industry.

"Love Letter," directed by Shunji Iwai, was a big hit in South Korea when it was released in 1999 thanks to a partial lifting of the ban on Japanese movies.

The ban on all Japanese movies except animated films and those with age restrictions was lifted in 2000; since then, such South Korean movies as "Shuri" and "JSA" saw great success when they were released in Japan.

"The competitiveness of South Korean movies was enhanced by the Japanese films that entered our country," Yoo said, adding that the South Korean film industry can develop further if the ban on Japanese movies is completely lifted.

However, it may still take time for Seoul to open its doors to all Japanese pop culture due to differences in moral standards and the desire to protect fledgling industries.

The South Korean government said Dec. 30 that while it would lift the ban on some Japanese TV dramas, variety shows would remain regulated. The ban on animated films for theaters will be lifted in 2006.

According to the Korean Cultural Center, starting this month, standard broadcast channels can air Japanese TV dramas jointly produced by Japan and South Korea, while cable and satellite channels can show Japanese dramas deemed acceptable for 12-year-olds by the South Korean government.

Yoo explained that many South Koreans, especially the elderly, are afraid that Japanese television programs are too sensational in such matters as the portrayal of violence. He added that some in the South Korean animation industry, which is still in the development stage, fear the full entry of Japanese animated films, which are considered the ultimate in the genre.

But he predicted that because the ban on animated films will end in 2006, the time may soon come when South Korea lifts its ban on the rest of Japanese culture, and that both countries will benefit from the move.

"I believe that since ancient times, culture has spread like (water), flowing from high places to lower areas."