Kim Byung-nae, Mayor of Nam-gu, Elected as Inaugural Secretary-General of the 'Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Forum'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Kim Byeong-nae, Mayor of Nam-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, has been elected as the inaugural Secretary-General of the "National Si·Gun·Gu Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Forum," which consists of 38 local governments nationwide.

According to Nam-gu on the 16th, the "National Si·Gun·Gu Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Forum Founding General Assembly" was held at 4 p.m. at Sowol Art Hall in Seongdong-gu, Seoul.

At the founding general assembly, only a few local government heads, including Lim Jong-seok, Special Advisor to the President for Foreign Affairs and Security, and Seo Ho, Vice Minister of Unification, attended in person to prevent the spread of COVID-19, while the remaining local government heads participated via online ZOOM video conference.

Mayor Kim Byeong-nae was unanimously elected Secretary-General in the vote on the "Forum Executive Appointment Proposal" submitted as an agenda item at the founding general assembly. Along with Yeom Tae-young, Mayor of Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, who was elected as the forum's standing co-representative that day, he will work together for two years to lead the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Forum.

The Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Forum, taking its first step this time, is a consultative body for discovering and implementing inter-Korean exchange policies. It plans to actively promote joint projects at the national Si·Gun·Gu level and inter-city exchange projects between North and South Korean provinces.

Kim Byeong-nae, Mayor of Nam-gu, said, "The will for peace settlement and unification on the Korean Peninsula cannot be stopped by any obstacle," and added, "Since local government heads nationwide have actively stepped forward to be the foundation for peace on the Korean Peninsula, we will do our best to achieve tangible results through the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Forum."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.