North Chungcheong Province Gov. Kim Younger-hwan speaks throughout an interview with The Korea Occasions in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Tuesday. Courtesy of North Chungcheong provincial authorities
CHEONGJU, North Chungcheong Province — North Chungcheong Province is positioning itself as an rising hub of Korea’s international outreach, stepping up efforts to draw international residents and seasoned specialists, Gov. Kim Younger-hwan mentioned Tuesday.
In an interview with The Korea Occasions on the sidelines of the Korea Native Diplomacy Discussion board in Cheongju, Kim mentioned that the centrally positioned province goals to construct a world community by means of deeper cooperation with cities overseas.
“Our province lies on the coronary heart of Korea, which is traditionally often called Jungwon (central area), and has lengthy served as a key axis of connectivity and enlargement. With Cheongju Worldwide Airport quickly strengthening hyperlinks to main cities throughout Asia, the province is ideally positioned to perform as a ahead base for Korea’s native diplomacy,” the governor mentioned.
The discussion board — co-hosted by the North Chungcheong provincial authorities, The Hankook Ilbo and its sister paper, The Korea Occasions — introduced collectively authorities officers and specialists to look at how municipal diplomacy may assist revive regional cities, a technique more and more seen as important to balanced nationwide development.
Kim pressured that the occasion offered a well timed platform to showcase the province’s strengths to international individuals.
“Via this occasion, we goal to actively promote the province’s potential for funding, analysis and industrial cooperation to international native governments and diplomatic missions in Korea,” he mentioned.
“We anticipate this to generate tangible financial outcomes, together with serving to our native firms broaden abroad, connecting them with international demand and exploring new companions overseas.”
A key function of the discussion board was the briefing session led by provincial authorities officers, who outlined North Chungcheong Province’s industrial panorama, funding atmosphere, tourism assets and international resident help insurance policies.
Attracting specialists from overseas has turn into an pressing precedence for the central province because it grapples with a quickly shrinking inhabitants.
The Okay-Worldwide Scholar Program, the province’s flagship initiative, presents specialised visa pathways with diminished monetary thresholds, whereas its Examine in Chungbuk platform consolidates admissions data for 18 universities throughout the area.
The governor additionally mentioned that strengthening ties by means of twinning packages with provincial governments in different nations — together with Benguet province within the Philippines, Yamanashi prefecture in Japan, Heilongjiang province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Area in China, and Phu Tho province in Vietnam — can be a serious focus subsequent 12 months.
“We are going to discover measures to determine cooperation tasks tailor-made to the wants of every associate metropolis,” Kim mentioned.
“Particularly, with the thirtieth anniversary of our sisterhood with Heilongjiang province approaching in 2026, this can function a place to begin for joint commemorative tasks and deeper coverage collaboration. We additionally plan to speed up people-to-people and cultural exchanges with the town, constructing on our worldwide pupil packages and tourism initiatives.”
