S. Korea, Japan ink MOU on copyright cooperation

SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and Japan agreed on Tuesday to cooperate in better protecting copyrights and related rights of their cultural products, Seoul officials said Tuesday.
Under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for "strengthening cooperation in the fields of copyrights and neighboring copyrights" signed in Seoul, the two governments will work together to improve the copyright situation in the Asia-Pacific region, the South Korean culture ministry said in a release.
The two sides also agreed to push for a joint project aimed to increase policy exchanges and cooperation among South Korea, China and Japan, and revitalize exchanges of South Korean and Japanese experts on copyrights affairs, the ministry said.
"Since there is no border in cases of copyright infringement with the development of the Internet, it is essential for countries to cooperate over copyright issues," South Korea's Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choung Byoung-gug said in a signing ceremony at his office.
The MOU was inked between Choung and his Japanese counterpart Yoshiaki Takaki, but Seiichi Kondo, commissioner of the Japanese agency for cultural affairs, attended the ceremony on Takaki's behalf.