Sustainable Development of the Inner-Korean Border Area - Meeting With Choi Moon-soon, Governor of Gangwon Province

c) Kyunghyang News

The meeting began with a short overview of the projects and activities of Hanns Seidel Foundation in the Gangwon province 2015, such as the marine bird survey of the East coast (which is still continuing), as well as projects in North Gangwon province. Afterwards, cooperation projects in the ongoing year were discussed. Among others, the development of nature protection in the East Sea needs close cooperation of all stakeholders. Unlike the West Sea of Korea, where already various protected areas are designated, there are no such area in the East Sea, though it is a major route on the so-called East Asian Australasian flyway of migratory birds.

Hanns Seidel Foundation, together with Dr. Nial Moores, a leading bird expert of Korea and founder of Birds Korea, currently do research to understand better the role of the inner-Korean border area on the flyway, in particular for marine birds. Since the first MOU in 2006, Gangwon province and Hanns Seidel Foundation Seould office have been cooperating for 10 years now in the field of sustainable development of the inner-Korean border area.