Seoul, San Francisco mark 50 years of ties as sister cities

Seoul and Francisco and Seoul celebrated the 50th anniversary of their sister-city bond this week with a series of diplomatic exchanges that ranged from ceremonial baseball pitches to the symbolic transfer of debris from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The historic artifacts, remnants of the disaster that reshaped the California city, are to be incorporated into a memorial garden currently under development in the Korean capital. The festivities were anchored by a three-day visit from San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who led a delegation of more than 20 representatives to Seoul from Tuesday through Thursday. The mission marked Lurie’s first official overseas trip since taking office, signaling the high priority placed on the trans-Pacific partnership between the two technology hubs. Accompanying him were Hagen Choi, chair of the Sister Cities Committee; music executive Ghazi Shami; Jim Coulter, chairman of private equity firm TPG; and Branislav Henselmann, executive director of the San Francisco Ballet, among others. On the first evening, the delegation toured the Myeong-dong shop

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