Hadong County Mayor Ha Seung-chul Visits Atlanta: ‘From Market Expansion to Youth Exchange’

Signs Export Agreements with Zion Market and Korean Chamber of Commerce

Establishes ‘Hadong Exhibition Hall’ at Wooltari Mall

Meets with Duluth Mayor, Explores Youth Exchange Cooperation

Hadong County, South Gyeongsang Province! Mayor Ha Seung-chul and his delegation from Hadong County, which has become a mecca for healing tourism by creating a ‘Tea Healing Marine Complex’ utilizing its geographical conditions flowing from Jirisan Mountain along the Seomjin River, the only national ecological river, to the South Sea, showed a wide-ranging approach during their visit to Atlanta.

On the 8th, Mayor Ha Seung-chul held a press conference to introduce Hadong County and explain the ‘Compact Attractive City’ project he has been pursuing since taking office.

Mayor Ha introduced Hadong County as “a tourist destination with abundant agricultural products, the Seomjin River ecological stream, and surrounded by Jirisan Mountain and the sea,” and explained that he “embarked on this U.S. visit to pioneer overseas markets for local specialties such as green tea, persimmons, strawberries, pears, marsh clams, and Seomjin River rice.” Mayor Ha presented a blueprint to make Hadong County a global agricultural and tourism hub by simultaneously pursuing global market expansion and administrative innovation.

To help 30 agricultural companies that process and sell local products enter the U.S. market, Mayor Ha’s delegation visited Zion Market on the morning of the 9th to conduct a tea tasting of Hadong County’s teas including green tea, and signed an export agreement with Zion Market CEO Steve Hong and branch manager John Park.

On the afternoon of the 9th, they visited Wooltari Mall in Suwanee and held a tape-cutting ceremony for the opening of the ‘Hadong Hall’ selling Hadong County’s specialties, and distributed strawberries, a specialty of Hadong County, to visitors. The Hadong Hall at Wooltari Mall will display and sell products such as green tea, chestnuts, rice, various forestry products, tea, and baby food.

On the afternoon of the 10th, Mayor Ha’s delegation visited the Atlanta Georgia Korean Chamber of Commerce (President Han O-dong) for a meeting and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for friendly cooperation. President Han O-dong took time to introduce the 23rd World Korean Business Convention coming up in a month, and Mayor Ha expressed hope for enhanced exchange and cooperation between the two organizations for pioneering the U.S. market for Hadong County’s agricultural specialties.

On the same day, Mayor Ha’s delegation visited Duluth City Hall to meet with Mayor Greg Whitlock and city council members to discuss ways to promote exchange and cooperation between the two cities. In particular, they had an in-depth discussion on cooperation plans for high school students’ study tours to the U.S.

According to Mayor Ha, since last year, Hadong County has been conducting fully-funded overseas training for youth in Hadong County to give them bigger dreams rather than spending their youth in the small Hadong County, and last year about 80 students visited the U.S. With sufficient budget from the county and an additional 20 billion won secured in a separate scholarship foundation for Hadong County, it has become a popular project among parents, teachers, and students.

Mayor Ha Seung-chul received the ‘Local Administration Innovation Grand Prize’ selected by the Korean Association for Local Government Studies in February for his innovative administrative activities in a county with a population of 41,000 and an annual budget of 700 billion won. He is receiving great response from county residents for his active and innovative policies such as establishing a comprehensive medical center in the county and supporting overseas training for all middle and high school students in the county.

*Original Article:

하승철 하동군수 애틀랜타 방문 ‘시장개척에서 청소년까지’ – 코리안뉴스애틀랜타