Sister city since: October 29, 2000

Overview

Located in the central region of ROK, Cheongju is the capital of Chungcheongbuk-do, with a total area of 940.3 square kilometers and a population of about 850,000. It is where the metal movable type printing technique was pioneered in the ROK. The city boasts the Cheongju International Airport and well-connected highways and railroads. Its economy is well developed, and the Cheongju Industrial Park is the largest industrial park in central ROK. The main industries include semiconductors, ceramics, biology, and food. It is home to the world’s top 500 companies such as SK Hynix, LG Chemical and Hankook Chinaware.

Relations with Wuhan

In 1998, then mayor of Cheongju led a delegation to Wuhan and donated money for disaster relief during the flood. In October 2000, he visited Wuhan again to participate in the 2nd Wuhan Golden Autumn Economic and Trade Fair. The two cities formally signed an agreement to establish sister city relationship.

Since Wuhan and Cheongju became sister cities, with the support of the governments and people from all walks of life, a mechanism of high-level mutual visits has been established, and fruitful exchanges have been carried out in fields such as economy and trade, culture, sports, education, science and technology, mutual visits among civil servants, and youth exchanges.

The two cities send delegations to each other’s events every year, such as China International Machinery & Electronics Products Fair, China Wuhan Agriculture Expo, China (Wuhan) International Garden Expo and Cheongju International Craft Biennale. In 2015, at the 15th anniversary of sister city relationship, Cheongju established its overseas trade office in Wuhan. The two sides since then carried out various economic and trade exchanges and promoted trade cooperation between enterprises. Zhongbai and Wushang Group have signed a number of cooperation agreements with enterprises in Cheongju. As a result, Wuhan people can buy products from Cheongju in local supermarkets.

Since 2002, every year Cheongju organizes a one-month training program for young students to learn Chinese language and culture in Wuhan. Since 2014, the two cities have jointly held the China-Korea International Youth Martial Arts Cultural Conference every year. The two cities have also established several friendship schools, such as Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Chungbuk National University, Jianghan University and Cheongju University, Wuhan Municipal Art School and Cheongju Chungbuk Art High School, Wuhan Instrument and Electronic Technical School and Cheongju Machinery Industry High School, Wuhan Experimental School and Cheongju Bongmyeong High School, Wuhan Jiangang Middle School and Cheongju Seowon High School, Wuhan Electromechanical Engineering School and Cheongju Chungbuk Electromechanical High School.

The two cities have initiated a civil servant exchange program since 2014. As of 2019, a total of 19 civil servants from Wuhan went to Korea for training and four civil servants from Cheongju came to Wuhan. This has promoted exchanges between government departments of the two cities.

Thanks to the fruitful cooperation, Wuhan received the International Friendship Cities Exchange and Cooperation Award and Cheongju received the Friendship Cities Exchange and Cooperation Award to China at the 2016 China International Friendship Cities Conference.