Mayor Lee Hyeon-jae is continuously communicating with ambassadors and key figures from each country, expanding Hanam City’s global network, and leading cooperation in the fields of industry, culture, and education. This international cooperation is expected to connect Hanam City more closely with the world and have a significant impact on improving the local economy and citizens’ quality of life in the future. We will look into Hanam City, which is growing into a city that the world is paying attention to through global solidarity.
Hanam City, strengthening global cultural and economic cooperation by expanding exchanges with ambassadors from various countries
Hanam City is expanding its global exchanges and strengthening its international status. In April 2024, Mayor Lee Hyeon-jae met with Italian Ambassador to Korea Emilia Gatto and discussed cultural and economic exchanges in depth. In particular, he explored ways to effectively promote the K-Star World project promoted by Hanam City to Italy. Italy is a country with strong competitiveness in the fashion, film, and tourism industries, and it can be an important cooperative partner for Hanam City to establish itself as a K-culture hub city. On this day, Ambassador Emilia Kato watched the presentation on the K-Star World development project with interest and showed deep interest, saying, “If you share the video with me, I will promote it to other ambassadors.”
In addition, Hanam City hosted the Kyrgyz Republic Ambassador to Korea Aida Ismailova in February of this year and discussed ways to cooperate in the fields of industrial economy and culture. Through this meeting, Hanam City expanded exchanges with Central Asia and broadened its potential as a global business city. The mayor attracted the attention of the Kyrgyz Republic by introducing Hanam City’s cultural programs and its development as a “city where people want to live.” Ambassador Aida Ismailova was deeply impressed by Hanam City’s development and expressed anticipation for the possibility of future cooperation.
Expanding cooperation in industry, culture, and education by signing an MOU with the US state of Arkansas
In March 2024, the market signed an agreement for economic cooperation with Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as White House Press Secretary during the first term of Donald Trump’s administration, at the Grand Intercontinental Hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The two sides discussed in depth ways to expand cooperation in the economic and business sectors, formed a deep consensus on cultural cooperation and revitalizing human exchanges, and established a multifaceted cooperation system. This agreement is an important first step for mutual development between the two cities and has become an opportunity to further strengthen the strategic partnership between Hanam City and Arkansas. In July of the same year, the mayor visited Little Rock, Arkansas, a sister city, and discussed various areas such as expanding youth exchanges and economic cooperation.
In particular, we actively discussed ways to expand youth exchange through Little Rock City youth visiting Hanam City to experience K-pop and cooperation in dispatching native-speaking teachers. In addition, we discussed specific measures such as opening a communication channel to promote economic exchange between businessmen between the two cities and dispatching employees between Hanam City and Little Rock City.
Mayor Lee then moved to Los Angeles (LA) and visited AEG, a global arena operator and global sports and entertainment company, to intensively explain Hanam City’s IR and K-Star World business plans, and clearly presented the vision and strategy for Hanam City to leap forward as a global city. This series of activities played an important role in Hanam City expanding its international network and laying the foundation for its leap forward as a global economic and cultural center.
Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was invited to give a special lecture on a sustainable future.
Hanam City invited influential figures from around the world to give lectures on international issues and global visions, providing new insights to citizens. In April 2023, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a special lecture in Hanam City on the topic of ‘The Role of Public Officials in the Global Era and the Climate Crisis’, emphasizing the importance of international cooperation to solve global environmental issues such as climate change. He also said that Hanam City can play an important role in responding to the climate crisis and developing sustainable cities.
Then, in July, former UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova visited Hanam City and gave a special lecture on the topic of ‘Hanam, a cultural city advancing into the world.’ Former Director-General Irina Bokova encouraged Korean youth to advance into international organizations and emphasized the importance of the K-Star World project promoted by Hanam City and the cultural sector. She also expressed deep expectations for the future possibility of Hanam City leaping forward as a global city, saying, “Education and culture are the center of all innovation and technological change, and important factors in the growth of Hanam City.” This lecture further highlighted the possibility of Hanam City establishing its position in the international community and establishing itself as an important global hub in the fields of culture and education.
Strengthening global education solidarity, including lifelong learning exchange and cooperation with Taiwan
Hanam City has also expanded international exchanges in the field of education and raised its status as a global learning city.
In August 2024, a delegation consisting of officials from the Ministry of Education of Taiwan and professors from National Jinan International University visited Hanam City, a member of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC), to benchmark best practices in lifelong learning. Hanam City is a lifelong learning city representing Korea through customized education programs for each life cycle. It has established itself as a representative lifelong learning city in Korea. The visiting group showed great interest in this education model and continued in-depth discussions on the possibility of future cooperation. In particular, Hanam City introduced major policies such as the Hanam-type short-distance learning delivery system, lifelong learning support for the disabled, and customized programs for each life cycle, and shared its vision and values of ‘Hanam, a lifelong learning city for all.’ This explanation received great praise and became an opportunity to spread deep awareness of Hanam City’s efforts to improve the quality of life of its citizens through lifelong learning.
Lee Hyeon-jae, Mayor of Hanam City: “Strengthening International Cooperation to Become a Global City”
Hanam City is focusing on international cooperation and network expansion as its core strategies to become a global self-sufficient city. Based on this, the market plans to strengthen foreign investment attraction, cultural exchange, and industrial cooperation, and strengthen Hanam City’s global position. In an interview with the Mayor, these key point were highlighted.
What is the most important factor for Hanam City to become a global self-sufficient city?
The key elements for leaping to a global self-sufficient city are international cooperation and network building. In particular, it is most important to strengthen cooperation in the fields of industry, culture, and education, and to revitalize the local economy by attracting domestic and foreign investment. Hanam City is trying to lay the foundation for Hanam City to grow into an international economic center through K-culture projects such as the K-Star World Project.
Hanam City aims to create opportunities for cooperation in various fields by expanding its global network. As of 2022, Hanam City’s per capita gross regional domestic product (GRDP) is 28.68 million won, which is lower than the Gyeonggi-do average of 42.9 million won. However, by attracting the interest of overseas companies through expanding its global network, it is expected that this will lead to regional economic growth and job creation, and Hanam City’s per capita GRDP will also increase. In addition, I believe that through exchanges with advanced countries such as the United States and Europe, Hanam City will lay the foundation for leaping forward as a global K-culture hub city.
What are your future plans for developing into a global self-sufficient city?
We are actively pursuing large-scale development projects such as Camp Colburn, K-Star World, and Gyosan New Town to attract companies and expand tax revenue. In the future, we plan to cooperate with global companies to make Hanam City a global business center and provide citizens with better education and living environments through sustainable urban development. To this end, we plan to utilize our excellent transportation network and infrastructure to attract excellent companies and accelerate social and economic growth through global exchanges and cooperation.
SEEN IN MAIN IMAGE: Mayor Lee Hyeon-jae of Hanam City is having a conversation with Italian Ambassador to Korea Emilia Gatto during a tea ceremony at the Hanam Culture and Arts Center in April 2024.
