HomeMy WebLinkAbout05132019 City Council Laydown - Lane Report TRAVEL REPORT 79/0 5 /
53rd Turtle Ship Festival in Yeosu,South Korea
May, 2019 _
By Kelley Lane K! 1 � 1' 10
"Good Evening, Mayor Kwon and Honored Guests,
I stand here tonight representing the City of Seward, Alaska, Mayor Squires, City Council, the delegation of
which I am a part and the spirit of Alaska, the last Frontier. We were sent here to your beautiful and
industrious city because we value our city's friendship and to honor one of our civic leaders, Willard Dunham,
who traveled to Yeosu in 2012 for the world expo. Just weeks before his death, he encouraged us to send a
delegation and to always keep our ties with Yeosu strong. We thank you for the opportunity to spend this time
with you, for the warm hospitality you have shown in giving us comfortable accommodations, hearty meals
and educational tours. We hope this time together will be a launching point for further economic and social
ties between our cities. We hope that you will join us in Alaska in the near future to experience the rugged way
that we live amidst mountains, glaciers and fjords. The five representatives of Seward thank you for the chance
to build diplomatic relationships and for honoring us with the invitation to your Turtle Ship Festival."
One thing to improve in the future would be travel arrangements and logistics. When we departed for Yeosu
from Seoul, we did not yet have passage back to Seoul booked. Fortunately, our hosts in Yeosu booked us bus
tickets, the only spots available on a busy holiday weekend. Unfortunately, the holiday traffic ended up
delaying us significantly, such that we missed the one daily Asiana Airlines flight back to Seattle. This meant as
extra night spent in Seoul, and because of the delay in arriving to Seattle, it meant an extra 11 hour layover at
SeaTac. The result was a two day delay in our expected return to Seward. There was another instance, on the
front end of our journey, when the hotel booked for us at Incheon was incompatible with the early morning
train departure south to Yeosu. Our delegation was unable to reach our travel agent, and acted on our own to
secure a hotel in Seoul that was within walking distance of the 7am train departure (6:30 arrival time). In a city
of 30 million, the logistics and layout were overwhelming. We were fortunate to have Soo Kang, a native
speaker, with us.
Moving forward with our diplomatic relationship, I am forwarding the request from Yeosu Mayor Kwon. He
would like a formal invitation to visit Seward, with his staff and translator. The invitation does not need to be
date or time specific, but more of a gesture of good will and of our intention to keep the relationship moving
forward. Yeosu, much like Obihiro, is a much larger municipality than Seward, and as such, has a larger budget
for international relations. With this in mind, Council Member Horn and citizen Reed Lane discussed with
Mayor Kwon's English language interpreter, Floyd some of the challenges and options. Floyd made it clear that
Yeosu would expect to cover their travel expenses to reach Seward. They are open to the idea of homestays
for staff, although maybe not for Mayor Kwon. They were particularly interested in the Silver Salmon Derby,
the marine landscape and the opportunity to dialogue with Alaskans. The opportunities for economic and
social development of this friendship city relationship are tremendous. One such option offered by Floyd was
an employee exchange. He mentioned finance or public works as departments that they have exchanged
employees with in the past with other of their diplomatic ties. The marine landscape with its tremendous ship
building, maintenance and fish farming were extensive. The investment in infrastructure, commercial and
residential developments by independent investors were immense.
On behalf of the Seward delegation and at the request of Yeosu, I request that City Council extend a formal,
non time specific invitation to our friendship city of Yeosu, South Korea.
TRAVEL REPORT
53rd Turtle Ship Festival in Yeosu, South Korea
May, 2019
By Kelley Lane
Our Seward delegation of five was a resounding success in Yeosu, South Korea. Each of us brought expertise in
various fields as well as the interpersonal skills necessary to land on our feet in a foreign culture, without
itinerary or expectations. We traveled to Yeosu, a city of 300,000 citizens, located at the far southern tip of the
country, at the invitation of Mayor Kwon. We were invited to attend the Turtle Ship Festival, a multi-day
gathering that commemorates the success of Admiral Yi Sun-Shin against Japanese military ships during the
16th century. During our visit, we came to realize that the festival and turtle ships are at the heart of Korean
identity. They represent a period in time when Korea was able to actively push back against foreign invaders
through the use of ingenuity in the form of armored military ships.
Upon arriving in Yeosu, our delegation learned that we were one of six international diplomatic groups that
were in attendance at the Mayor's invitation. This presented us with the rare opportunity to network and
converse with four Chinese groups from four separate large metropolitan cities, including Wei Hei and
Zhangzhou. Additionally, our delegation made connections with the Russian delegation, who journeyed from
their home in Vanino. Vanino shares many characteristics with Seward, including the fact that they exported
25 million tons of coal this year. Thanks to double interpreters (English to Korean, Korean to Russian) provided
by the City of Yeosu, we were able to dialogue with the four person Vanino delegation, including its leader
Svetlana Yurievna, Deputy Head of Municipal Administration for Economics and Finance.
On our first night in Yeosu, we walked in a parade. Thanks to the foresight of City Clerk Brenda Ballou, we
were the only delegation with our city flag with us. We walked proudly carrying it, with Sewardite Cindy
Ecklund enthusiastically greeting the thousands of people lining the parade route with cries of "greetings from
Alaska." Later that night, we were the guests of honor at the Turtle Ship Opening ceremonies. Included in this
ceremony was an explanation of the festival's cultural significance and an impressive choreographed
demonstration by the Korean Coast Guard. Council Members Jeremy Horn and Kelley Lane sat on either side
of Floyd, the English language translator, who explained the ceremony happenings. Sewardite Soo Kang, of
Korean heritage and upbringing, was able to translate to Cindy Ecklund and Reed Lane. It was a late night of
festivities and fireworks.
The next evening we were invited to the Mayor's Welcome dinner, at which all six delegations were invited to
give welcome speeches or toasts. We learned later that the dinner was held on the second night because in
Korean custom, we needed to attend the opening ceremony before we could sit down to a meal with the
mayor and other government officials. I was fortunate to give the speech on behalf of our delegation, which
was translated into the other languages. I will include it here: