Sister city since: June 24, 2013

Overview

Situated in Gangwon-do, northeastern South Korea, Taebaek is the economic, social, cultural, and educational center of southern Gangwon-do. Its name came from the Taebaek Mountains, meaning big and bright. The city has an area of 303.47 square kilometers and a population of 42,901. Under the slogan “Rebranding Taebaek as a Highland Leisure Sports City in the 21st Century”, Taebaek has developed into an international highland leisure city by the coast of the East Sea, with highly developed tourism and numerous cultural and sports activities.

Relations with Xianning

Xianning and Taebaek signed theMemorandum on Exchanges between Sister Citiesin 2010. In June 2013, Kim Yeon-sik, then Mayor of Taebaek, led a government delegation to Xianning, and signed the sister city agreement with Ding Xiaoqiang, then Deputy Secretary of the CPC Xianning Municipal Committee and Mayor of Xianning, marking the establishment of Xianning’s very first sister city. In September 2014, the two cities signed theMemorandum of Understanding on Student Exchanges.In August 2015, during then Party Secretary Chen Shulin’s visit to Taebaek, he witnessed the conclusion of theFriendly Exchange Agreementbetween Xianning Senior High School and Jangseong Girls’ High School. The years from 2015 to 2019 have seen frequent in-depth educational exchanges between the two sides. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020, Yoo Tae-ho, Mayor of Taebaek sent a letter of sympathy to Xianning. Xianning donoted RMB 150,000 as a show of support in reciprocity after the virus start to spread in ROK.