Ten Years of City Partnership with Suwon

©Freundeskreis-Freiburg-Suwon

The festive reception celebrating the tenth anniversary of the partnership with the South Korean city of Suwon was supposed to be crowned by the two mayors swapping seats.

Lord Mayor Lee Jae-joon would have taken Oberbürgemeister Martin Horn's place for ten hours.

The seat swap had to be canceled due to scheduling conflicts with Suwon’s Lord Mayor, Lee Jae-joon. Therefore, First Deputy Mayor, Kim Hyun-soo, and the Chairperson of the City Council, Kim Ki-jung, led the impressive delegation from the city of Suwon.

Here are some pictures from today's reception at Freiburg's old council chamber, to which Red Baron was invited.

On the right, the interpreter

In his speech, Freiburg's Lord Mayor, Martin Horn, first welcomed the attendees and then paid tribute to the ten-year partnership between the two cities.

Martin proudly presented his wooden name log.

By turning the log, he and Deputy Mayor Kim Hyun-soo, visibly amused, revealed the Korean version.

Kim Hyun-soo offered Martin Horn a Korean seal. Admire the reddish stamp impression in the Golden Book entry above.

Freiburg presented the city of Suwon with two prints in which the lights of the old council chamber are eerily reflected.

Additionally, Freiburg offered two gift baskets containing German children's books to support German language teaching in Suwon.

Afterwards, the Korean delegation signed Freiburg's golden book in the golden morning sun while press photographers closely watched First Deputy Mayor Kim Hyun-soo's pen.

It's done. Behind the First Deputy Mayor, Kim Hyun-soo, standing from left to right, are Freiburg's Lord Mayor, Martin Horn, Suwon's Chairperson of the City Council, Kim Ki-jung, and the First Mayor of the City of Freiburg, Ulrich von Kirchbach.

The two mayors present the document to the audience, displaying the Korean finger heart sign
핑거하트 to convey love, affection, and gratitude.

Here is the document with the signatures of all delegation members on the left page.

To the entire Korean delegation, we wish: 안녕히 가세요

*