Close ties to boost development of Sanmenxia and Dongducheon

As one of the five international sister cities of Sanmenxia, Dongducheon in South Korea has increasing close ties with Sanmenxia since they forged the bond with each other in 2008, which, in turn, has greatly improved the international influence of Sanmenxia.

Dongducheon, to the north of Seoul, has beautiful natural sceneries and rich cultural historical resources, which is strategically important for the defense of the Korean capital similar to the role played by Sanmenxia in the history of China in military defense. 

Since 2008, the two cities have enhanced cooperation with each other in various aspects, including economics, trade, science, technology and education. Sanmenxia signed cooperation agreement on exchanging research students in 2012, which has been included in student-exchange programs of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Moreover, the city has contributed to the implementation of the Taekwondo training cooperative project. The international exchange activities and the four twin schools set up by the two cities were ranked as a role model for deepening friendly sister-city cooperation in Henan province. 

In order to expand its international influence, Sanmenxia held various promotion conferences and international exchange meetings, and invited large amounts of foreign friends and overseas Chinese to participate in the meetings. Thanks to the efforts made by the government, Sanmenxia's open economy has been growing at a rapid pace, and it has reached a high level of internationalization.

Sanmenxia teenagers perform at the 5th Dongducheon International Youth Festival in Dongducheon, north of Seoul. [Photo by Lei Weiguo/smx.gov.cn]