Top culture officials from China, Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan reached an agreement on Wednesday to boost up cooperation in the nations' culture-related industries, according to local media.

ROK Vice Culture Minister Shin Jae-min and his counterparts Toshiyuki Takei and Ouyang Jian, during a joint forum held in the city of Busan, discussed over setting up a taskforce for joint research and information exchange on the development of cultural contents, according to a press release.

Officials from the three countries also shared views on creating a joint portal Web site, which they found would increase information exchanges, said the press release.

Joint forums on cultural development among the three East Asian countries have been held every year since 2002 in pursuit of promoting cultural ties among the countries.

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2009)