Visit of two South Korean National Assembly Members to Germany

01/10/2018

Ms Park Young-Sun (member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Democratic Party: governing party) and Mr Park Yong-Jin (member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Democratic Party: governing party) visited Germany from October 10th to 16th 2017 on invite of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

Topics of the travel

The three topics of the travel were ‘Sustainable Urban Planning’, ‘Gentrification’, and ‘the German Reunification’. The first two topics were chosen on request of Ms Park Young-Sun, she wants to run for the office of the Mayor of Seoul in June 2018. In the course of preparing for the candidacy Ms Park is very interested in sustainable urban planning and gentrification. She is an established member of the National Assembly and has been voted into office three times. To be able to run for the office of Mayor of Seoul, she first has to be voted within the party to become the official candidate of the Democratic Party.

Visit to city administrations

To get to know the relevant topics, the two National Assembly members visited Germany’s largest three cities: Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich. They made a visit to the city administrations, where the topic ‘Strategy and Philosophy of City Development’ was discussed.

Photo with Chancellor Merkel

Visit to the former inner-German border, Bundestag, and Bayreuth

In addition to the above-mentioned topics, the two politicians had appointments of political nature and a paid a visit to Bad Harzburg, which is located at the former inner-German border area.

When visiting the German Bundestag, they had a conversation with Katharina Landgraf (member of the Bundestag and member of the German-Korean Parliamentary Group). Thanks to Ms Landgraf, they were also able to take a picture with the German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel.

In Bayreuth, the two Assembly Members had conversations with Hartmut Koschyk (member of the Bundestag and Secretary of State) and Hermann Hübner (county commissioner of Bayreuth) about Korea and Germany.

Group picture at the HSF headquarters

Visit to the HSF headquarters

In Munich, the two guests visited the headquarters of the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) and were welcomed by Dr Peter Witterauf, Secretary General of the HSF. They were informed about the tasks and functions of the HSF.