Snoqualmie mayor on ‘friendship’ tour
April 8, 2009 · Updated 2:01 PM
Mayor Matt Larson is off this month to Gan Jin, Korea — Snoqualmie’s “Friendship City.”
Larson is the guest of Juang Hwang, mayor of Gan Jin, a city of about 40,000 people. Hwang is paying for much of the costs of flying over Larson, Snoqualmie Sister City Association member Tina McCollum and two Snoqualmie couples who hosted some of the Korean students who visited in January during a foreign exchange.
Starting Monday, April 13, Larson will be spending a week in Korea, visiting the capital, Seoul, and staying in a dormitory in Gan Jin.
There he will give a talk on urban planning and pedestrian-oriented design. Several hundred Koreans are expected to hear him speak about the ‘live-work-play’ philosophy that the city has followed in neighborhoods such as Snoqualmie Ridge.
“That’s what they’ve been intensely interested in,” Larson said.
His Korean hosts plan to give him a tour of Korean cities and history.
“They want me to see more of Korea as a whole. It should be interesting,” Larson said.
The Snoqualmie City Council last fall gave Gan Jin “Friendship” approval, a step toward sister status.
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