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Busan Metropolitan City Welcomes Hokkaido Delegation from Japan, Discusses Expanding Cooperation on 20th Anniversary of Exchanges

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Busan Metropolitan City Mayor Park Heong-joon announced that yesterday morning (29), Vice Mayor for Future Innovation Seong Heui-yeob met with a Hokkaido delegation that included Hokkaido Vice Governor Kano Takayuki, Speaker of the Hokkaido Assembly Ito Joichi, and Nakatsukasa Tetsuo, Chair of the Hokkaido Japan–Korea Parliamentarians’ Federation, to discuss measures to strengthen friendly cooperation between the two regions.

The delegation comprised around 20 officials from the Hokkaido Government, the Hokkaido Assembly, and stakeholders from the education and cultural sectors, and visited Busan to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Letter of Intent for Friendly Exchanges in December 2005.

First, Vice Mayor Seong welcomed the Hokkaido delegation’s visit to Busan, stating, “Busan and Hokkaido share many similarities, and since signing the Letter of Intent for Friendly Exchanges in 2005, we have continued steady exchanges.”

He added, “In particular, the Light-on event held together with Hokkaido in 2021 offered great comfort and hope to residents of both cities during the difficult period of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

• ●Light-on event: In December 2021, the Busan Tower and the Sapporo TV Tower each illuminated in green and blue, respectively, symbolizing the other city.

Vice Mayor Seong continued, “Busan has recently seen a significant increase in inbound foreign tourists thanks to rising international recognition. Hokkaido is also a region visited by many international travelers, and I hope that this visit will lead to even more foreign tourists traveling to both destinations.”

In response, Hokkaido Vice Governor Kano Takayuki said, “The relationship between Busan and Hokkaido has developed remarkably over the past 20 years,” adding, “Numerous direct flights operate between Busan and Hokkaido, and many tourists from Busan also visit us.”

Nakatsukasa Tetsuo, Chair of the Hokkaido Japan–Korea Parliamentarians’ Federation, said, “I have long wanted to visit Busan,” and added, “I hope that a Busan delegation will also visit Hokkaido, including the Sapporo Snow Festival.”

In addition, Busan Metropolitan City held a meeting with the Hokkaido delegation and around 40 stakeholders from Busan’s culture and tourism sectors to discuss future exchange and cooperation projects between the two regions, and new measures for cooperation were proposed across diverse areas, including education, tourism, culture, people-to-people exchanges, and administration.

To this end, Busan presented various cooperation proposals to the Hokkaido side, including joining the Tourism Promotion Organization for Global Cities (TPO), headquartered in Busan, as a member city; invitations to Busan’s international events such as Global Week and the Global Tourism Summit; participation in the K2H (Korea Heart to Heart) training program for invited foreign local government officials; and exchanges between libraries.

Finally, Vice Mayor Seong concluded the meeting by saying, “I hope that, starting today, we can formalize an agreement to become official friendly cooperation cities with Hokkaido, and I would like to thank you once again for your visit.”