President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of September 17 with Korean National Assemblyman Song Kwang Ho and a delegation from Jecheon City. The president, on behalf of the government of Taiwan, welcomed the visitors and called for both sides to continue fostering bilateral friendship and strengthening ties in a variety of areas.
In remarks, the president commented that Taiwan and Korea are geographically near to each other and substantive ties have continued to grow in a number of fields over the past several years. For instance, he pointed out, bilateral trade last year surpassed US$30 billion for the first time. Taiwan is Korea's sixth largest trading partner, while Korea is Taiwan's fifth largest, he said. In the area of education and culture, 90 universities in Taiwan maintain sister school arrangements with 161 of their Korean counterparts, he said, with 402 cooperative agreements having been signed. President Ma furthermore stated that last year some 660,000 visits were made by nationals of each country to the other, highlighting the increasingly close interaction.
President Ma stated that four years ago when he took office, he unveiled his vision of a Northeast Asia Golden Aviation Loop, which would include direct flights between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Seoul's Gimpo International Airport, Songshan Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport, and Songshan Airport and Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport. The president thanked Assemblyman Song and the Korean government for supporting establishment of the Songshan-Gimpo route. This, he said, enabled the realization of his vision for the aviation loop in the first half of this year.
The president also emphasized that Song, who is now serving his fourth term in the National Assembly, has placed heavy emphasis on education, government affairs, infrastructure, and transportation. He previously served as secretary general of the Korean Grand National Party, which is Korea's ruling party and is now known as the Saenuri Party ("New Frontier Party"). He has also served as high commissioner and in other key positions. Assemblyman Song, the president said, has a distinguished record and is very highly regarded. President Ma added that he is confident that Jecheon City, home to breezes and a bright moon, and Hualien County, home to the rising sun, are an excellent match for a city sister relationship, which will remind people that "whenever the sun or moon shines on one, it is also shining at that same moment on the other."
President Ma also expressed his hopes that Assemblyman Song will continue to promote interaction and cooperation between the two countries in economics, politics, culture, and tourism after he returns to his home country, thereby further enhancing friendship between Taiwan and Korea.
Besides Assemblyman Song, the delegation included Jecheon City Council Chairman Kim Ho-Kyung, World Chinese Union General Korean General Chairman Park Jong-Chan and Lee Hyang-Su. The delegation was accompanied to the Presidential Office by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Representative Ting Gan-cheng (丁干城) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Philip Y. M. Yang (楊永明).