Gangwon Province and Japan's Nagano Prefecture, bound by their shared history as Winter Olympics hosts, are expanding a decade-long partnership into semiconductor talent development and forestry resource exchange.
Gangwon Province said a delegation from Nagano Prefecture, led by the head of its planning and promotion department, will visit Gangwon from Tuesday through Thursday to mark the 10th anniversary of the two regions' friendship and exchange agreement.
A ceremony commemorating the 10th anniversary of the partnership is scheduled for December in Nagano. The Japanese delegation is visiting ahead of that event to review the results of exchanges to date and discuss future areas of cooperation.
Ties between Gangwon and Nagano took root after both regions successfully hosted the Winter Olympics — Nagano in 1998 and PyeongChang in 2018 — forging a shared identity as winter sports destinations.
Building on that connection, the two sides signed a friendship agreement in 2016 and have since collaborated across a range of fields, including Nagano's participation in the 2023 Gangwon International Forest Expo and university student exchanges in the semiconductor sector.
During the visit, the delegation will hold working-level consultations related to the December anniversary ceremony, including a session on best practices in digital administration using resident registration numbers, and tours of the Smart Gangwon Integrated Support Center and the Gangwon Digital Innovation Center.
The delegation will also meet the presidents of Hallym University and Gangwon National University's College of Medicine, as well as officials from the provincial sports association. A visit to the Chuncheon National Museum is also planned, where the group will meet the director and join a curator-led tour focused on Gangwon's history and culture.
Nagano Prefecture sits at the heart of Japan's alpine route, ringed by peaks rising to around 3,000 meters above sea level. The region is known for pristine mountain tourism — including the resort town of Karuizawa — and its hot springs.
Located about an hour and 20 minutes from Tokyo by bullet train, Nagano's southern areas are expected to gain even better access to Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka once the superconducting maglev Linear Chuo Shinkansen, currently under construction, is completed.
"We hope this exchange will lead to substantive cooperation between Gangwon Province and Nagano Prefecture in areas of shared interest — including income generation through forestry and timber, and advanced industries such as AI and semiconductors," said Kim Young-gyun, Gangwon Province's director of international cooperation.
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