The South Korean government has decided to examine the possible opening of its market to Japanese culture in phases based on Japan's implementation of carrying out revisions of its history textbooks and other pending issues.

The government's decision came when officials from education, foreign affairs, defense, and culture ministries held a meeting Tuesday to evaluate Japan's attitude and the points of agreement reached last week during the Korea-Japan summit meeting at the Shanghai APEC forum.

Government officials in Seoul said the issue of lifting the ban on Japanese cultural products would be implemented on a step by step basis depending on Japan's forthrightness on how sincerely Japan puts the agreed points into practice.