By Jhoo Dong-chan
A street in Itaewon, the tourist section of Yongsan-gu, central Seoul, will be renamed after a Vietnamese city in celebration of the 20th anniversary of a sisterhood relationship between the two sides.
The district office said Wednesday that the 330-meter-long Bogwangno 59-gil will be named “Vietnam Quy Nhon-gil.” Also a “Quy Nhon Garden” is expected to be established along the street with Vietnamese murals.
“Vietnamese will be designated as one of the main languages of the street along with English and Chinese, attracting and helping Vietnamese tourists,” said a district official.
Quy Nhon was the city where the Capital Mechanized Infantry Division of the Korean Army, or Tiger Division, was dispatched in September 1965 and where it was stationed for seven years during the Vietnam War.
Established in 1949 in Yongsan, the Tiger Division distinguished itself during the war but was also responsible for murdering civilians during its military operations. Due to such actions, residents in the city even set up a “hate” monument condemning the division.
“Yongsan has made great strides to restore relations with Quy Nhon since Korea established diplomatic ties with Vietnam in 1992,” the official said.
In 1996, district officials visited the city for the first time to set up the sisterhood relationship. The office has since launched various charity efforts there, including scholarships, a house building project, providing cataract treatment and education programs.
“We believe such efforts have helped the residents remove unpleasant sentiment toward the division and Korea, as they changed the hate monument into a memorial monument to mourn the war dead,” the official said.
Yongsan will also set up a branch office in Quy Nhon, where it will provide Korean language classes to local people and help Korean firms doing business there.
“Through the exchange programs, we’ll try to invite more Vietnamese tourists to Itaewon and boost the district’s economy,” the official said.