Information Ministers from South Korea, Japan and China have agreed to forge a new framework to accelerate info-tech cooperation among the three nations. The Minister of Information and Communication (MIC) said recently the ministers have agreed to set up the East Asia ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Summit.



The agreement was reached during a gathering in Sapporo, Japan, involving public and private representatives from the Asian countries, the second of its kind after last year’s Cheju meeting in Korea. “Up until now, the ministers met on an ad-hoc basis, thus causing some concerns regarding its efficiency. But the advent of the East Asia ICT Summit should brush away such concerns,?MIC director Min Wonki said.



Under the plan, the countries will jointly establish the International Cooperation Working Group, which will serve as a secretariat of the annual summit.



In addition, the ministers agreed to cooperate in the development and standardization of nextgeneration segments, including Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6), the up-and-coming Internet address system designed to settle address shortage woes, and radio frequency identification (RFID) based on a tag using radio frequency.



Korea has especially pushed for the three-nation collaboration in RFID technology, which is expected to ultimately replace the current bar code. “It would be difficult to mandate a single RFID standard in Korea, Japan and China, but the radio tags should at least be recognized across the borders between the three nations? Korea’s Information-Communication Minister Chin Dae-je said before leaving for Japan.



/ By The Korea Times