District Adopts a Seoul Sister

After the Vietnam War, "San Francisco reached out to Saigon before we even established diplomatic relations," Honey said, paving the way for the first direct flight to Ho Chi Minh City from San Francisco International Airport. More recently, the Denver Regional Council of Governments paired with the province of Baghdad to provide humanitarian aid to Iraq as well as expose Iraqi officials to systems of government, education, business and nonprofit groups in the United States.

"Certainly, the time we're in right now is in desperate need for people to come together and create a foundation for peace," Honey said. "And that was the vision that Eisenhower had for people-to-people diplomacy."

Honey praised Williams for becoming more involved in the sister city program. "D.C. is not where Chicago is. But Mayor Williams has clearly placed a real emphasis on reaching out and being more engaged," he said. "The thing with Seoul, for example, wasn't just two mayors coming together and shaking hands. A lot of citizens were there."

In fact, the D.C.-Seoul pact was initiated by leaders of the local Korean community, who count more than 200,000 residents of Korean heritage in the Washington region.

"You can get a very nice cultural and economic and political relationship" through the sister program, said the Rev. Sang Jin Choi, executive director of Action for Peace Through Prayer and Aid, a ministry to the homeless in the District's Truxton Circle neighborhood.

"Also, many Korean people are so interested in America as a democratic model country, so they want to have opportunities to get internships and economic relationships and anything."

Lee, the Seoul mayor and a leading presidential candidate in South Korea, said he hopes a sister relationship with Washington will produce closer ties between his country and the United States.

"In the 21st century, it will increasingly be the trend that cooperation between cities will become just as important as cooperation on the national level. And I think there is increasing interest from U.S. governors and U.S. mayors in these kinds of relationships," Lee said.

"Over the long term, it will lead to better understanding between the two people, Koreans and Americans. And so it will be a big benefit for all of us."