A delegation from the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City, South Korea, visited Fujian province on July 9, with talks focusing on expanding cooperation in trade, investment, energy, and culture.

Huang Shaorong, deputy director general of the Fujian Provincial Foreign Affairs Office, said Fujian and Jeollanam-do in South Korea have maintained close exchanges for years, with ties strengthened by geographic proximity and cultural links. For example, Quanzhou in southern Fujian and Gwangju were both designated as East Asian Cultural Cities in 2014, strengthening exchanges between the two sides.

Trade links have also expanded, with about 60 percent of Ningde's large yellow croaker exports shipped to South Korea, while Fujian's seaweed and other seafood products are popular in the South Korean market. Jeollanam-do has been sending delegations to the China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) in Xiamen every September, laying a foundation for economic and trade exchanges between the two sides.

Song Dong-ha, head of the China office of the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City, outlined the merger that created the special city and said the new city would strengthen regular communication with Fujian and build more platforms for economic, trade, and cultural exchanges.

The Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City was established on July 1 through the merger of Jeollanam-do and Gwangju Metropolitan City. It has an administrative status equivalent to that of Seoul Special City and plans to attract companies including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to develop semiconductors and AI industries.