Seoul in the Eyes of the World

Mayor Oh makes swing through the U.S. and Mexico to sell the city’s know-how on environment, green growth and electronic government

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon took off on Nov. 16 on an eight-day trip to the United States and Mexico on a mission to sell Seoul City’s green technology in what has been packaged as an environmental and energy diplomacy, the city said on Nov. 16. During the tour, the mayor will visit Los Angeles, Chicago, and Mexico City until Nov. 23 to sell Seoul’s environmentally friendly policies including its operations to clean the air, the increased use of green cars in the city and others to make Seoul a green city.
The first stop the Seoul mayor was in Los Angeles to meet with the city’s mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Nov. 16 to sign an MOU on the exchange of electric cars between Seoul and Los Angeles designed to exchange information on high-tech and share model cases in those exchanges.

On Nov. 18, Oh flew to Mexico City to attend the 3rd UCLG(United Cities and Local Governments) general convention, where he explained in an aggressive manner Seoul’s policies on environment and green leadership, which took place from Nov. 16-20, where mayors of capital cities of 115 countries took part including France, the U.S., Russia and Spain, among other countries, totaling some 3,000 participants. The subjects they discussed included the impact from the global economic crisis on many capital cities, the look of cities in 2030 and the cooperation between local cities and the central government. Some 1,000 local governments from 95 countries are members of the UCLG.
Mayor Oh in his speech at the event stressed the sustainable environment would be a decisive factor for competition among cities around the world and marketed Seoul’s policies for changing and improving air quality and for climate change. He also sold Seoul’s know-how on traffic control and electronic administration in his sales diplomacy.
Oh proposed that Seoul was willing to share its know-how on such areas as city traffic, environment, culture and IT sectors that it has accumulated in the past six years through an agreement signed with Mexico City.
The mayor boasted Seoul’s electronic administrative facilities that he wanted to transfer to the municipal administration of Mexico City and exchange experts and information between the two capital cities in the future to set up a joint cooperative channel.
In Chicago, known for its environmentally friendly policies and as a mecca for city design, Oh toured the Green Technology Center, which won the award for its environmentally friendly design for the first time among U.S. cities, in an effort to collect some information useful to his policies for the Han River Renaissance and other environmental policies.
The municipal administration of Chicago directly runs the center as it displays architectural technologies and materials for green buildings and education and research for an integrated environmental education winning the LEED:Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for confirmation as the first environmentally friendly building in the United States.
Oh held a meeting with Mayor Richard Dailey of Chicago on promotion of exchange on environment, art and culture, design, electronic government and tourism among various other subjects. Mayor Dailey sent a letter to Oh after reading an article on the Seoul mayor in the Financial Times in 2009, although he never met Oh.
In the letter, Dailey said he was deeply touched by Oh’s effort to redesign Seoul, adding he wished the best for Oh’s leadership and vision to make Seoul a better city to live, visit and work and continued success in every one of his endeavors. nw

(photo above) Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hold an MOU they signed on the exchange of electric vehicles between Seoul and Los Angeles on Nov. 16 at L.A. mayor’s office. Seoul Mayor Oh chats with a participant at a meeting in Los Angeles. The mayor is on a trip overseas including the United States and Mexico on a mission packaged as selling Seoul’s environmental and energy diplomacy from Nov. 16-24.