On 21 September, a delegation from the Fukuoka Prefectural Univ. (Japan) composed of six students led by Professor Masataka Okamoto and Dr. Eun-Ae Kim visited the NEAR Secretariat as part of a social research practicum. Following their meeting with Mayor Seong-Ho Park of Pohang City (Korea) under the topic of “exchanges among local authorities (Pohang recently seconded all of the city government officials to Fukuoka for training),” they visited the Secretariat to discuss exchange and cooperation activities among Northeast Asian regional governments.

Introducing NEAR to the young people, Secretary General Kim asked the delegation to encourage Fukuoka’s entry to NEAR, while Professor Okamoto asked about the advantage from joining the membership, expressing his will to “promote NEAR to the prefectural government at the earliest opportunity.”