The opening ceremony of the Consulate-General of the Republic of Korea to Irkutsk, Russia, was held on June 16 with some 100 people including ranking state officials such as Vice Irkutsk Governor Gurtoboy, and Irkutsk Mayor Yakubovsky, leaders from various social sectors, the said Consulate-General staff, and ethnic Koreans.

On the Korean side, Ambassador to Russia Lee Kyu-hyung and the head of the Foreign Ministry’s Eurasia Division, among others, attended the event.

The Korean Consulate-General to Irkutsk has been established under the agreement at the 2004 ROK-Russia Summit, and to help Korean firms take part in development projects in Russia’s far-eastern and Siberian regions, promote bilateral energy and resources cooperation and meet the need for expanded consular services due to the recent rise in people-to-people exchange.

The establishment of the Consulate-General to Irkutsk is expected to serve as an occasion for Korea and Russia’s Siberian region including Irkutsk to further bolster cooperation in key fields such as economy, culture, education and tourism as well as in people-to-people exchange.