Japanese music to be performed at S. Korean festival

Asian Economic News, August 2, 1999

SEOUL, July 27 Kyodo

Japanese rock songs will be performed at a festival in Pusan, South Korea, on Aug. 1-2 in what may be a harbinger of a decision by Seoul to lift a ban on Japanese popular songs in the country, festival organizers said Tuesday.

The songs will be performed by two Japanese rock groups.

South Korea removed a decades-old ban on Japanese culture at the end of last year by allowing South Koreans access to various aspects of Japanese culture, including films, videos and comics.

But the ban on other facets of Japanese culture, including some types of Japanese music, has not yet been lifted.

Officials from South Korea's Culture and Tourism Ministry said the timing and scope of the next areas to be liberalized are still under discussion and that the public's reaction to the Japanese music would be taken into consideration in the decision.

The organizers said about 3,000 Japanese spectators are scheduled to be invited to the festival, which will also feature rock bands from South Korea and China.

Japanese cultural products had been banned in South Korea due to the bitter memories of Japan's colonial rule of Korea from 1910 to 1945.

President Kim Dae Jung said during a visit to Japan last year his government will take steps to accept Japanese cultural products on a step-by-step basis.