By Jung Sol-bee
Intern
Cheongju, the capital of the North Chungcheong Province, is seeking sister relationship with Bellingham, a western coastal city in Washington State, to further promote exchanges between the two partners.
The move was made when Mayor Nam Sang-woo talked about expansion of exchanges with his Bellingham counterpart, Tim Douglas, during his visit to the cozy city while on his way home from his trip to New York recently, a spokesman said.
Nam attended a special exhibition on a precious ancient Buddhist book (compiled in 1272 in Goryeo Kingdom), "Jigji Simche Yojeol" at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York.
The two mayors agreed to expand bilateral exchanges in a variety of fields such as culture and business, turning the loose friendship relation closer to a sister bond as soon as possible, the spokesman said.
Cheongju concluded a friendship tie with the U.S. city when it invited the Bellingham delegation to the international craft biennale sponsored by the municipal government last October. The Korean city has a population of 634,000 as of the end of 2006, while the American city close to the boder with Canada has 73,460 as of April, 2006.
The U.S. city will bring the number of foreign cities in sister relations with Cheongju to three. The Korean city has similar ties with Tottori, the capital of Tottori Prefecture, Japan and Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China.
"Bellingham is reported to have been selected the second best city to live in the U.S. last year. I believe that the city would develop further, thanks to a large-scale city planning project now under way," an official said.
He added that the local city would be able to extend its international exchanges to the English-language world from South Korea's neighbor countries in Asia.