Ulsan City Strengthens International Exchange with Central Asia ... Video Conference with Karaganda Province, Kazakhstan

Discussion on Support for Korean Language Education and Invitation of Cheoyong Cultural Festival Performance Group

Ulsan City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] On the 11th at 2 p.m., Ulsan City held a working video conference with Karaganda Province, Kazakhstan, in the city hall video conference room to discuss various exchange plans in the fields of culture, tourism, and Korean language education support.

The meeting was held between Kim Chang-hyun, Director of the Foreign Investment and Trade Division of Ulsan City, and Nurtas Karipbayev, Deputy Director of the Enterprise Support Bureau of Karaganda Province.

The main agenda items included △inviting a performance group from Karaganda Province to Ulsan's representative festivals in October, the ‘Nadri Festival’ and the ‘Cheoyong Cultural Festival,’ △supporting educational infrastructure in Karaganda Province, where there is a high enthusiasm for learning Korean, and △mutual distribution of tourism brochures.

Ulsan City and Karaganda Province signed a sister city agreement in 2010, and this video conference was planned as a way to diversify international exchanges to Central Asia.

Karaganda Province, located in central Kazakhstan, has an area of 2.4 million km² similar to the Korean Peninsula and a population of 1.15 million, with about 11,000 Koryo-saram (ethnic Koreans living abroad) residing there.

It boasts abundant deposits of raw materials and mineral resources, and its main industries include hydroelectric power generation, coal mining, steelmaking, machinery manufacturing, and chemical industry.

In May, Bakyt Dusenbayev, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Korea, visited Ulsan City, and the Honorary Consulate of Kazakhstan in Ulsan was opened in Nam-gu, Ulsan, actively promoting exchange and cooperation between Ulsan City and Kazakhstan.