Seoul awards 17 foreigners with honorary citizenship

The City Hall is lit up in blue in Seoul, South Korea. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin)

On Wednesday 28th October, Seoul awarded 17 foreigners with honorary citizenship as an appreciation for their efforts. Among them was the billionaire Nicolas Berggruen, famously known as “the homeless billionaire”.

The government said that Berggruen, the investor who’s known to live in hotels with no home to go to, was awarded the honorary citizenship for his work as city management and urban reform adviser, through cooperation between Seoul and Berggruen Institute.

Among the other awarded foreigners is Helen Lebron, former French literature professor at Sogang University in Seoul, who translated the work of late Park Wan So into French.

The list also includes Cho Yobo, head editor of Daily People’s online newspapers, who wrote a couple of feature stories on Seoul; also Martin Hemrt, a professor in Korea University, who wrote a book on competitive abilities in Korea companies titled “The will of the Tiger”

The ceremony was held in Seoul and was attended by over 150 guests among them were foreign ambassadors.

The Korean honorary citizenship was awarded to 740 foreigners from 92 countries up till now, among them the famous actor Jackie Chan and the writer Michael Sandel.