1. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jong Kun delivered congratulatory remarks at the 16^th “Korea-Japan Festival in Seoul” event on November 10, in which he stressed the need for cooperation between the Republic of Korea and Japan in the era of COVID-19.

o Vice Minister Cho noted with appreciation that the annual event has been held for the past 15 consecutive years under the initiative of the two countries’ private sectors, and suggested that the two countries continue bilateral cooperation in COVID-19 response like the slogan for this year’s event “let’s move forward as one.”

o Vice Minister Cho also shared various examples of people-to-people exchanges between the two countries selected at the storytelling contest titled “Introducing my Korean/Japanese Friends and Neighbors” which was recently organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and stressed that such deep-rooted exchanges and mutual understanding in the private sector are serving as a solid foundation for friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

2. The Korea-Japan Festival in Seoul started in 2005 to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the ROK and Japan and has been held annually in Seoul and Tokyo. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s event was held through an online platform with various cultural and art performances of the two countries featured as its main contents.