Korea's South Chungcheong Province to deepen ties with Japanese prefectures

The governor of South Korea's South Chungcheong will make a four-day visit to Japan this week to deepen the province's cooperative ties with Japanese prefectures, the South Korean provincial government said Thursday.

Gov. Ahn Hee-jung is scheduled to leave for Tokyo on Friday for talks with officials of the pro-Seoul Korean Residents Union in Japan, to discuss ways to promote cultural exchanges for youths of the two countries before heading to Shizuoka, southwest of Tokyo, the next day to take part in an academic forum on the sustainable development of agriculture.

Topics for this year's East Asia Provincial Government Agriculture Forum, which will bring together about 300 representatives of local governments from South Korea, China and Japan, include the linkage of foods to agriculture, health and longevity, urban-rural exchanges and the sixth industrialization of the farming sector, or the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries as part of efforts to spur agricultural growth.

South Chungcheong Gov. Ahn Hee-jung (3rd from L) attends the 2015 East Asia Provincial Government Agriculture Forum in Hongseong, south of Seoul, in this September 2015 file photo. (Yonhap)

Initiated by South Chungcheong, the inaugural forum was held in Hongseong, the capital of South Chungcheong in which leaders of the three Northeast Asian countries' local governments discussed the future and values of the 21st century's agriculture and farming villages.

On Sunday, Ahn will visit the southwest Japanese prefecture of Kumamoto, which was rattled by two powerful earthquakes earlier this year, to make a donation to Kumamoto Gov. Ikuo Kabashima.

South Chungcheong and Kumamoto have carried out exchange programs since 1983, when the two local government formed a sister relationship.

The South Korean governor will take a trip to the ancient Japanese capital Nara on Monday to hold talks with Gov. Shogo Arai on ways to expand cooperation and exchanges. (Yonhap)