Paju City Delegation Attends Japan's 'Sasebo Seaside Festival'

Paju-si and Sasebo City Lay Foundation for Cooperation to Revitalize Private Exchange

The Paju City delegation is taking a commemorative photo after attending the opening ceremony of the "Sasebo Seaside Festival" held on the 7th in Sasebo City, Japan, a sister city abroad.

From the 6th to the 9th, a 3-night, 4-day delegation from Paju City (Mayor Kim Kyung-il) visited Sasebo City, Japan. The delegation attended the opening ceremony of the 'Sasebo Seaside Festival' in Sasebo, their international sister city.

The opening ceremony held on the 7th was splendidly conducted with the participation of Paju City Mayor Kim Kyung-il and the Paju delegation, Sasebo Mayor Daisuke Miyajima, Sasebo City Council Chairman Kenji Hayashi, and citizens of Sasebo.

The Sasebo Seaside Festival, held since 2004 as a successor to the American Festival, features fireworks, wind orchestra concerts, live performances, and Yosakoi dance performances over two days on the 7th and 8th.

At this opening ceremony, members of the 'Paju~Sasebo Friendship Association,' the Executive Director of the Sasebo Chamber of Commerce, and Daisuke Miyajima joined together to strengthen the friendship between the two cities and lay the foundation for future cooperation to revitalize private exchanges.

Sasebo City, the second largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan, is a naval port city and tourist destination. It began exchanges with Paju City in 2008 and officially established a sister city relationship in 2013. Over the past 15 years, active private exchanges have been promoted, including administrative exchanges, cultural and artistic exchanges, and youth homestay programs.

Especially during the COVID-19 period, when mutual visits were difficult, online training between staff and online exchanges between university students were maintained. In February of this year, a Sasebo City delegation led by the mayor also visited Paju City.