Speaker Im Man-gyun met with seven Tokyo assembly members Wednesday to explore cooperation on shared challenges including low birth rates and aging populations; Seoul Metropolitan Council vows to deepen policy exchanges with overseas legislatures
Seoul Metropolitan Council Speaker Im Man-gyun met with a delegation from the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on Wednesday afternoon to discuss ways to expand exchanges and cooperation between the two cities' local legislatures.
The visit was part of a program organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Japan to bring Japanese local assembly members to Korea. About seven members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly's Japan-Korea Lawmakers' League took part.
The visiting delegation is spending four days in Korea from Sunday through Thursday, with stops at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Korean Mayors and Governors Association, among other institutions.
The Seoul Metropolitan Council had previously engaged with Japanese local assembly members who visited under the same program last year. Wednesday's meeting covered ways to strengthen cooperation between local governments of the two countries, joint responses to shared challenges such as low birth rates and aging populations, and measures to invigorate people-to-people and policy exchanges between local lawmakers.
"It is all the more meaningful to continue our exchanges with members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly for a second consecutive year," Speaker Im said. "We will maintain close ties so that the local legislatures of both countries can share common policy challenges and legislative experience, and translate that into tangible cooperation."
The Seoul Metropolitan Council said it plans to continue expanding exchanges with overseas local legislatures and to deepen mutual cooperation and policy dialogue centered on the urban policy challenges cities commonly face.
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
