As the Hoengseong Hanwoo Festival drew some 100,000 visitors on its opening day alone, county officials held an MOU signing ceremony between Hoengseong-gun and the city of Fullerton in Orange County, California.
Hoengseong-gun County Chief Jang Shin-sang and Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung, along with officials from both sides, attended the ceremony and agreed to expand exchanges and cooperation between the two cities on the basis of mutual respect and trust.
The agreement aims to deepen mutual understanding and pursue shared development through exchanges in economics, education, culture and tourism. Key areas of cooperation include opening export channels and markets for agricultural and specialty products as well as products from small and medium-sized enterprises, people-to-people, education and cultural exchanges involving children and students, and mutual promotion and exchange in tourism and festivals.
The MOU follows a visit by a Hoengseong-gun delegation to Fullerton on Oct. 1, during an official trip to the United States, where they held in-depth discussions with Mayor Jung on ways to expand exchanges and cooperation. The agreement was drawn up to formalize ties between the two cities and build a substantive cooperative relationship based on the commitment reached at that meeting.
![Fullerton Park in Fullerton, Orange County, California, which is now partnering with Hoengseong-gun. [Provided by Visit California]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/10/10/news-p.v1.20261010.ab2033df85714864acbcbd496cea0933_P1.jpg)
Fullerton is a city in Orange County, California, with a population of about 143,000, including roughly 20,000 Korean Americans. Drawing on that demographic foundation, the two cities plan to identify cooperative projects not only in the economic sphere but also in education, culture, tourism and people-to-people exchange, leveraging the local Korean American community.
"This agreement is a meaningful starting point that elevates the exchanges with Fullerton — which began during my recent trip to the United States — into an official cooperative relationship," Jang said. "Going forward, we will identify substantive exchange projects across a wide range of fields, including economics, education, culture and tourism, so that both cities can grow together."
Mayor Jung said he hoped the two cities would "share each other's strengths through continued exchanges and cooperation, and create new opportunities for residents on both sides."
abc@heraldcorp.com
