| Foreigners who were awarded honorary Seoul citizenship pose for a photo with Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, front row sixth from right, during the award ceremony at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Thursday. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government |
By Jung Hae-myoung
The Seoul Metropolitan Government awarded honorary citizenship to 22 foreigners to recognize their social, cultural and financial contributions to the city at a ceremony held in the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Thursday.
Among the 22 people was Zahid Hussain, known as the representative of Pakistan on "Abnormal Summit," a Korean television talk show featuring foreigners living in Korea.
Outside the set, he has contributed to reducing the cultural gap between Muslims and Koreans as the head of Seoul International Student Forum, and as an honorary ambassador for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics this year.
Dimitrios Psyllakis, the CEO of Mercedes-Benz Korea, was also awarded for his great social contribution and investment. The company has held traffic safety campaigns for children and offered vehicles for welfare facilities in the capital.
He took part in this year's Seoul Kimchi Festival together with other employees of the company, and became a part of the Guinness World Record for the largest number of people making kimchi at one place.
Lewis Patterson, the CEO of Latitude, a packaging company seeking sustainable development, was also commended for helping single-parent families by offering scholarship and experience programs.
Baasanjav Ganbold, former ambassador of Mongolia to Korea, was lauded for founding a weekend school for Mongolian citizens living in Seoul to help them settle in the country.
Monica Cymerman and Benjamin Kostenbader received the honor as a couple, for suggesting an innovative model for English education at the Seongdong Global English House in Seongdong-gu and helping children from low-income backgrounds receive quality English education.
Others were also awarded for their outstanding work in spreading foreign culture to Koreans, collaborating with international organizations and helping underprivileged people.
Ambassadors representing 40 countries and around 30 foreign residents who previously received the honorary citizenship also attended the ceremony.
"Seoul is already a global city with 460,000 foreign residents who make the city more diverse and flourishing," Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said at the ceremony.
"Seoul will strive to listen to the voices of foreign residents to make an environment that is safer and where they can succeed as well."