Seoul’s Governor read an open lecture at SPbU
During an official visit, Seoul’s Governor has read an open lecture on how we can develop Russia-Korea relations, shared his experience in governing megalopolis, and told about his dream to travel across Russia.
Russia and Korea has similar interests in geopolitics, and the new presidency in South Korea can consequently advance our relationship on a new level, says Seoul’s Governor. Academic and cultural exchange can be a solid ground for expanding our cooperation.
In Seoul, they unveiled a monument commemorating Alexandr Pushkin, and in St Petersburg we are planning to set a monument for a prominent South Korean novelist Pak Kyongni at St Petersburg University. Russia is high priority with Korea, and Seoul’s Governor said that he had been eager to travel from Moscow to Vladivostok by train.
He also shared his experience in governing the megalopolis. Seoul is a high-technological megalopolis with a unique interactive system Seoul Live (see Seoul Live, TASS, 20.06.2017). Seoul technology smart-city collects data about the city and regulates it on-line.
The city’s government is ready to share the technology with other cities not only in Korea, but abroad as well: Korean IT-specialists help our cities use this technology. He also invited our students to visit its cabinet and see the megalopolis with the eye of its governor.
Although Seoul is exporting its technologies and information products, it nevertheless can learn a lot from St Petersburg in cultural sphere and historical monument preservation. Human resources are also important, says Seoul’s Governor, and Seoul invests vast sums of money in industry and trade, still its primary concern is creating comfortable conditions for life and work of its citizens.
His lecture stirred an immense interest among SPbU’s professors and students. They literally bombarded him with the questions. In particular, they were interested in the ASEAN free trade area, humanitarian cooperation across the globe, and how to use Seoul Live in other cities.
Prof Sergei Kurbanov shared his visions on how to develop Russia-Korea relationships. Moscow is ready to foster political and economic cooperation with Seoul, but we need to get a response from our Korean colleagues, he said.
At the end of the lecture, Mr Pak Von Sun gave about fifty Korean books and e-books to the Gorky Library on the 120th anniversary of the Korean studies at SPbU.
“We are grateful to Seoul. These publications will be valuable additions to our collections and it commemorates Seoul Governor’s to our University”, — said Director of the Library Marina Karpova. These books will be soon available for students and professors.