Korea-China-Japan Education Ministers Convene to Address Lifelong Education and Low Birthrate Issues

The 3rd Trilateral Education Ministers' Meeting to be Held on the 10th in Beijing, China

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye will visit China to attend the "3rd Korea-Japan-China Education Ministers' Meeting" held in Beijing on the 10th.

At this meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Yoo will discuss the direction of joint development based on educational cooperation among Korea, Japan, and China, and is scheduled to sign a joint statement to strengthen educational cooperation among the three countries.

Prior to the main meeting, she will sequentially attend bilateral talks with Chen Baosheng (陳寶生), Minister of Education of China, and Koichi Hagiuda (萩生田光一), Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, to discuss educational cooperation measures between the respective countries.

The Korea-Japan-China Education Ministers' Meeting is a ministerial-level consultative body in the field of education established in 2016 under the leadership of the Korean Ministry of Education to enhance human exchange and educational cooperation among the three countries. Following meetings held in Korea in 2016 and Japan in 2018, this year's third meeting is held in China, establishing a tradition of rotating the hosting in the order of Korea-Japan-China.

Through the previous two ministers' meetings, it has become a major platform for discussing key cooperation areas such as expanding human exchange and higher education cooperation among the three countries.

In particular, this meeting is significant as the three countries' leaders adopted a cooperation vision for the next ten years at the 8th Korea-Japan-China Summit held in China on December 24 last year, and subsequently, the education ministers of the three countries gather to discuss future-oriented educational cooperation measures.

The main agenda items include ▲ promoting youth exchange and mutual understanding among the three countries ▲ promoting higher education cooperation such as the Campus Asia program ▲ expanding educational cooperation fields and contributing to the community through educational development. The three ministers will review the achievements of cooperative projects agreed upon in previous education ministers' meetings and discuss ways to expand cooperation going forward.

Additionally, to effectively respond to social structural changes and build future education systems, the scope of cooperation will be expanded to lifelong education, and opinions will be exchanged on educational cooperation measures to jointly address common challenges faced by the three countries, such as low birth rates and aging populations.