Mayor Kang Gijeong Spreads 'Democracy, Human Rights, and Peace City Gwangju' in Germany

Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung met with Burkhardt Jung, the mayor of Leipzig, a peace city that led the German Peace Revolution, to share policies on world peace and unification.

On the 26th (local time), Mayor Kang held a meeting with Leipzig Mayor Burkhardt Jung at Leipzig City Hall in Germany.

Mayor Kang and Mayor Jung exchanged views not only on human rights and cooperation in culture and the arts but also on responding to the climate crisis, human peace, and coexistence.

They also strengthened their relationship through broad discussions on cases of attracting companies and revitalizing industries in Leipzig, which has firmly established itself as an economic city after unification, as well as sharing perspectives on international affairs.

Leipzig is known as a democratic and peace city, a city of culture and arts, and a trade and economic city.

Since 2012, it has maintained a friendly cooperative relationship with Gwangju. The two cities especially focus on enhancing cultural and artistic empathy and synergy through art residency exchanges.

They also participated in the World Human Rights Cities Forum held in 2011 and 2016. In May of this year, a delegation from Leipzig visited Gwangju and experienced the May 18 Democratic Movement commemorative events and the Gwangju Biennale.

As Leipzig is a democratization city where the "Peace Revolution" that brought down the Berlin Wall in Germany began, solidarity measures as democratic, human rights, and peace cities were also discussed.

Leipzig citizens who longed for peace and democracy held Monday gatherings in the form of prayer meetings with candles every Monday at St. Nicholas Church starting in 1982, and the flame ignited there became a representative democratic city that led to German unification.

Leipzig and Gwangju, representative democratic, human rights, and peace cities of Germany and Korea, respectively, decided to further strengthen their solidarity for world peace and democracy.

They also engaged in in-depth discussions on refugee policies, including the issue of Ukrainian refugees.

Leipzig Mayor Burkhardt Jung said, "I am pleased that this meeting followed a video conference," adding, "This meeting will strengthen the friendly relationship between Gwangju and Leipzig. Let us jointly cooperate through active city diplomacy, not only in democracy and cultural arts solidarity but also in responding to the climate crisis."

Mayor Kang invited and proposed promotional cooperation for international events held in Gwangju, such as the Gwangju Design Biennale, the World Human Rights Cities Forum, and the 2025 World Archery Championships.

As a representative of the host city for the "2025 World Archery Championships," Mayor Kang, who is on a business trip in Europe, previously met with Nuremberg Mayor Markus K?nig on the 25th in Nuremberg, Germany, to discuss ways to revitalize human rights cities, including invitations to the World Human Rights Cities Forum, and ways to expand exchanges between the two cities.

Nuremberg, which transformed from a center of Nazi power to a global human rights city after the war, and Gwangju have continued exchanges such as inheriting and globalizing the spirit of the May 18 Democratic Movement and participating in the World Human Rights Cities Forum.

Under the 8th term of the elected government, Gwangju is actively pursuing "city diplomacy" by exchanging with ambassadors to Korea and representatives of overseas cities, expanding the Biennale Pavilion (temporary exhibition hall) that serves as a cultural diplomacy platform, and more.

Mayor Kang said, "It was a valuable opportunity to share the experiences and values of democracy, human rights, and peace that each city holds and to seek solidarity measures on common concerns such as the climate crisis," adding, "I will continue to do my best to promote Gwangju to the world through active city diplomacy."

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