Secretariat, Taipei City Government

Mayor Chiang Wan-an of Taipei City met with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on September 25, and the two mayors witnessed the signing of the Taipei–Seoul MOU to Promote Cooperation in Youth Affairs by Chairman Eric Yu of the Taipei City Government’s Research, Development and Evaluation Committee, and Director-General Kim Chul-hee of Seoul Metropolitan Government's Future and Youth Planning Bureau.

Mayor Chiang began by congratulating Mayor Oh for his role in helping to establish a sister city relationship between Seoul and New York City. He then praised Oh for organizing urban forums and achieving fruitful results in city diplomacy. Oh responded by saying that he was the same age as Chiang when he began his first term of office as a mayor. He also noted that Seoul residents are paying attention to news about Chiang and that he was looking forward to enhancing Taipei–Seoul exchanges in the future.

Chiang emphasized that Taipei and Seoul share a strong sister city relationship, which was established in 1968 and has, to date, endured for 55 years. He indicated that he was particularly touched when Mayor Oh proposed to make Seoul a socially inclusive city. Chiang highlighted that he also shared Oh’s aspirations of promoting care for socially vulnerable groups when he was a member of the Legislative Yuan and had proposed to make Taipei City a Capital of Hope for Sustainability and Social Inclusion in his current role as a mayor. 

Chiang expressed his pleasure about signing the MOU with Seoul. He stated that after he learned about Oh’s efforts to promote the Seoul Happy Youth Project for 3 million young citizens and increase subsidies for youth entrepreneurship by 8.8 times, he was also inspired to provide opportunities for Korea’s incubation centers and startup companies to visit Taipei and engage in exchanges with Taipei’s startup bases.  According to Oh, Seoul is currently focusing on technical training for young talents to facilitate employment matchups after graduation, increasing its investment in youth housing policies, and building a Future and Youth Planning Bureau aimed at developing more youth policies. Chiang replied that Taipei’s Department of Education also formed a specialized agency for technical and vocational education and that efforts are underway to promote social housing designed primarily for young people. Furthermore, Chiang expressed that he visited Seoul to gain insights from the city in preparation for the upcoming establishment of the Department of Youth.

Chiang mentioned that he witnessed Oh’s outstanding opening pitch during an MLB game in which the Blue Jays was the home team. He expressed that Taipei City is preparing to open the Taipei Dome, which can accommodate more than 40,000 spectators, and that he hoped to invite Oh to throw opening pitches at the dome. Furthermore, because Team Korea is participating in the upcoming Asian Baseball Championship, which is expected to be hosted at the Taipei Dome, Chiang also welcomed Seoul to send delegates to visit the Taipei Dome. 

After the two mayors witnessed the signing of the Taipei–Seoul MOU to Promote Cooperation in Youth Affairs by the Taipei City Government’s Research, Development and Evaluation Committee and Seoul Metropolitan Government's Future and Youth Planning Bureau, Chiang took selfies with Oh and posted them on social media to mark his fruitful trip to Seoul.