It's official: Gangjin, South Korea, is sister city to Snoqualmie.

The Snoqualmie City Council approved sister city status to the South Korean city on Monday, Dec. 14. Gangjin was granted Friendship City status last January, and the move cements the two cities' relationships in time for a visit by a group of South Korean high school students Jan. 6.

The agreement spells out new connections between Snoqualmie and Gangjin, including visits, e-mails and correspondence, exchanges by local service clubs, youth exchanges by high schools students, art and cultural links, contacts in education and business realms, and pen-pal exchanges between classes of school children.

Snoqualmie Sister Cities Association President J. Douglas Irvine recommended the move.

"We anticipate continuing growth in our already warm relationships with the people of Gangjin and the Republic of Korea," he stated in a letter to the council.

Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson said he is excited about the links in education and immersion in schools.

"I'm hoping more and more kids will be excited about traveling there," Larson said.

The mayor spent several days in Gangjin last April, visiting schools and speaking publicly.

"The hospitality is like nothing you've ever experienced," said Larson, who was struck by the vitality of the 61-year-old nation.

"It reminded me of growing up in the 1950s," he said. "There's such a sense of 'there's nothing we can't do.' This is a young country, on a fast, upward trajectory."

Gangjin's council will now consider the matter.

Contact Snoqualmie Valley Record Editor Seth Truscott at editor@valleyrecord.com or 1-425-888-2311.

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