Colombian President Ivan Duque to Become an 'Honorary Citizen' of Seoul

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Awarded Honorary Citizenship Certificate

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Iv?n Duque M?rquez, President of Colombia, will become an honorary citizen of Seoul.

On the 26th, Seoul City announced that Iv?n Duque M?rquez, President of Colombia, who is visiting Korea from the 24th to the 26th, will visit Seoul City in the afternoon and receive an honorary citizenship certificate from Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.

This visit by the Colombian president is the first in 10 years since President Juan Manuel Santos visited in September 2011. Prior to the president's visit, Colombian Vice President Marta Luc?a Ram?rez visited Seoul City in December 2019.

President Iv?n Duque M?rquez was elected as Colombia's youngest president in history at the age of 42 in 2018. While working at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), he authored the book "Orange Economy" (2013), presenting an economic vision focusing on the creative industries as Colombia's next-generation economic development strategy, and he has evaluated Korea as a leading country in advanced technology and cultural content.

Following the honorary citizenship certificate awarding ceremony, Mayor Oh and President Iv?n Duque M?rquez will continue their meeting to discuss topics such as fostering companies related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution between the two countries' cities, corporate support infrastructure, and startup activation plans. Before visiting Seoul City Hall in the morning, President Iv?n Duque M?rquez toured the DMC area, Seoul's representative media and content cluster, inspecting the e-sports stadium and the one-person media studio construction site within the S-Plex Center.

Meanwhile, the awarding of honorary citizenship certificates by Seoul City to major foreign dignitaries marks Iv?n Duque M?rquez as the 35th head of state to receive this honor. So far, a total of nine prominent Colombians have visited Seoul City Hall and received honorary citizenship certificates, making President Iv?n Duque M?rquez the 10th recipient.

Yoon Jong-jang, Director of Citizen Communication Planning at Seoul City, explained, "Colombia is a very precious ally to us, having sent over 5,000 combat troops led by the naval ship Padilla from Latin America during the Korean War, the only country from the region to do so. Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Seoul and Bogot?, making this a special year. The fact that President Iv?n Duque has become an honorary citizen of Seoul ahead of this important time holds very special significance for Seoul and Colombia."

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