Gyeonggi Governor Nam Kyung-pil is starting the first leg of his tour of foreign countries following his inauguration as Governor on July 1 this year to attract foreign investment to the province and for diplomacy between local governments.

On July 22, the Gyeonggi Province said that a delegation of the Governor of Gyeonggi Province Nam Kyung-pil is visiting four areas of the United States – New York, Virginia, Washington DC, and Los Angeles – for 10 days between July 25 and August 3.

 “His visit this time has three purposes: diplomacy between local governments, benchmarking of what they do in safety and jobs, and attraction of investment from businesses specializing in high-end technologies. It will serve as an opportunity to strengthen diplomacy between local governments with focus on unification and security – considering the province’s proximity to the DMZ – and discuss matters regarding jobs and safety, which are deemed to be of utmost importance by the province,” a provincial official said with regard to the governor’s visit to the United States.

First, Governor Nam Kyung-pil will have a meeting with Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe in Richmond, Virginia on July 28 to discuss ways of mutual collaboration and exchanges. The Gyeonggi Province has maintained sisterly ties with the State of Virginia since 1997.

On July 30, Mr. Nam Kyung-pil will take part in a conference hosted by leaders of the Korean-American community on the subject of grassroots’ participation in politics. There, he will meet with Mr. Robert Menandez,Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Mr. Ed Royce, Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee.

During his visit to the United States, the Gyeonggi Governor is scheduled to sign three investment agreements amounting to $120 million in all – one in New York on July 25, with another in Washington DC on July 29 and the third in Los Angeles on August 1. The Gyeonggi Province expects such agreements to create about 1,100 new jobs.

On August 1, Mr. Nam Kyung-pil will visit Riot Games in Santa Monica, California and discuss matters regarding the promotion of the game industry in the province as well as how the American business has achieved global success with the leaders of the business. Riot Games is a well-known business thanks to the game League of Legend. 

As for safety and benchmarking on jobs, Mr. Nam Kyung-pil will pay a visit to the Arlington Employment Center, Virginia on July 29 to check the status of its operation and then to a business named Blizzard on July 31. On August 1, he will go to Los Angeles City’s Emergency Management Department and see how it operates a safety management system.

Other items in his itinerary include visits to the New York Korean War Veterans Memorial (July 25), the Comfort Women Memorial in Fairfax County, Virginia (July 30), and the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC (July 30).

On July 31, he will pay a visit to Two Lines, an exhibition displaying photos of the DMZ dividing the two Koreas. Held at the Korean Culture Center in Los Angeles, the photo exhibition is co-hosted by the Gyeonggi Province, German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz, BfN), and Yeoncheon-Gun Office. One hundred-plus photos selected from an album titled Two Lines, which contains master photographers’ works, are being displayed at the center. The exhibition with the same title held in Gwanghwamun Plaza, Seoul, and Imjingak Pyeonghwanuri near the DMZ in 2013 enjoyed great popularity, with more than a million people attending the event.