Gunpo trip helps Grant County businesses

MOSES LAKE - Grant County residents returned from a trip to Gunpo, in the Republic of Korea, and are touting the business benefits of the sister city connection.

Some benefits include increased shipments of Grant County alfalfa to Korea and more business contacts made between the two countries, said members of the Grant County delegation this week.

The two sister cities, Grant County and Gunpo, send respective delegations to the U.S. and Korea, depending on the year.

This spring, a group of five Grant County residents visited Gunpo.

They are Grant County commissioners Cindy Carter and Richard Stevens, Carter's mother and businesswoman Nancy Callahan, of Royal City, former Grant County commissioner LeRoy Allison and George farmer Larry Williamson, a member of the Grant County Farm Bureau.

After the previous Grant County group's trip, Carter said the relationship resulted in increased trade. During a past trip, a representative from a Washington state hay exporting business visited a Korean dairy.

Now the hay business sells its product to the dairy.

Callahan, of Royal City, said her business, Callahan Manufacturing, is working to sell a large hoist in Korea.

She is the company president. Her husband, Dean Callahan, designed the hoist.

The trip helped, as she was able to give pointers about the country to a company working on her behalf in Korea. She gave her business cards to new contacts during the trip.

"It's always hard to move into a company overseas," Callahan commented.

A company representative is doing a presentation about the hoist in Korea next week.

This trip was former commissioner Allison's third visit to Gunpo.

Allison mentioned increased business contacts for those wanting to ship alfalfa and potatoes to Korea from Grant County.

"That's been really good," he said.

He recalled his first trip to Korea. At that time, a Grant County food company was interested in a Korean company that designed the graphics on Dunkin' Donuts' boxes.

"We're in a global market situation and know we need to compete, to ship the products they produce and buy back their products," Allison said.

Other trip highlights

Carter enjoyed visiting Hyundai Steel, an automotive company, and Samsung's showroom and museum.

This was Carter's second trip to Gunpo.

The Grant County group invited the Korean delegation to visit Grant County this fall. They want to see the harvest.

The Grant County group had dinner with the Gunpo delegation and its Chinese sister city. A group from Japan wasn't able to attend the dinner because of the country's conditions after a massive tsunami, earthquake and nuclear threat.

China is looking forward to having a sister city relationship with Grant County, she said.

Carter also commented about the hospitality shown by the Koreans.

"The way they treated us was amazing," she said. "They treated us first class."

Callahan said they were given the best food and were entertained both in the days and evenings.

"We were listening to pop singers and the Korean Frank Sinatra," she said. "We didn't buy a single meal. All we had to do was buy the plane tickets over."

Allison was able to reconnect with old friends.

"I always enjoy seeing the people, especially now that the former mayor is the mayor again," he said.

He mentioned visits to a hospital and a high tech automobile parts factory, with robots making small automotive sensors.

He described the parts factory as "robotic and superclean."

"Everyone was wearing lab coats," he said. "The robotic machinery was in glass cabinets so you could watch them."