JEONJU — Celebrating the 20th anniversary of friendly exchanges with Shandong Province, China, the Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province announced on October 30 that a provincial delegation completed a three-day visit to Jinan and Yantai starting on the 28th to discuss expanding bilateral cooperation in sports, culture, and industry.

Led by Vice Governor for Administrative Affairs Lee Ji-sung, the delegation reviewed the achievements of the past two years and engaged in various activities to uncover practical cooperative projects and expand exchanges among the future generation.

On the first day (October 28), the delegation met with Sun Ximin, Vice Governor of Shandong Province, in Jinan, sharing a mutual consensus on the necessity of sustained cooperation between the two regions. Joined by Liu Changsu, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Qingdao, the delegation proposed:

*Establishing a regular consultative body to discover practical cooperative projects;
*Building cooperation channels between policy research institutes of both regions; and
*Expanding human and cultural exchanges for future generations.

During the 20th-anniversary commemorative dinner that followed, the K-Food Industry Research Institute of Jeonju University staged a performance themed around Jeonbuk’s signature dish, bibimbap, cementing the friendship between the two regions.

On October 29, a Jeonbuk-Shandong sports exchange event was held at the Shandong Sports Training Center. Taekwondo and wushu demonstration teams from both regions performed traditional martial arts displays and joint demonstrations, followed by discussions on promoting youth athlete exchanges and broader athletic collaboration.

Later that day, the delegation moved to Yantai and held talks with Yantai Mayor Zhang Mingkang, expressing gratitude for the long-standing friendly exchanges between Gunsan and Yantai. The two sides also discussed cooperation strategies between the Korea-China (and China-Korea) industrial complexes established in Saemangeum and Yantai, respectively.

On the final day of the visit (October 30), the delegation hosted the "Jeonbuk Sports and Culture Day" at Ludong University in Yantai. They promoted Jeonbuk's traditional culture through Taekwondo performances and hanji (traditional Korean paper) craft workshops to make cheongsachorong (traditional lanterns). Afterwards, the delegation visited the China-Korea (Yantai) Industrial Complex and its tenant enterprises to examine local industrial conditions and discuss measures to link the complex with the Saemangeum Industrial Complex.

The China-Korea (Yantai) Industrial Complex is an industrial cooperation project established under the South Korea-China Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 2015. Capitalizing on this visit, Jeonbuk aims to unearth concrete cooperation tasks—such as attracting businesses and connecting supply chains—between Saemangeum and the Yantai Industrial Complex.

"If the past 20 years were a time of building trust, the next 20 years must be a time of turning that trust into tangible achievements," said Vice Governor Lee Ji-sung. "Beyond administrative exchanges, we will strive to grow alongside Shandong across all sectors of sports, culture, and industry, ensuring that corporate recruitment and supply chain cooperation between the Saemangeum and Yantai industrial complexes translate into real-world results."

Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province and Shandong Province have maintained active exchanges across administrative, economic, cultural, and sports sectors since establishing a friendly cooperative relationship in 2006.

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