Yangquan city in North China's Shanxi province and Pocheon city in Gyeonggi province in South Korea held a video conference on Aug 27, to look at the development of the martial art of taekwondo in small and medium cities. 

The conference was co-sponsored by Yangquan foreign affairs office, Yangquan sports bureau and government departments of Pocheon to further strengthen general communication between the two cities. 

Also on the agenda was to deepen their cooperation in taekwondo and promote mutual learning and common progress in training the next generation of taekwondo talent, technical exchanges and sports ranking certification. 

The two sides gave presentations on their taekwondo development and carried out general discussions, officials said. 

They said the conference also saw a memorandum of understanding on development of taekwondo exchanges and cooperation signed between Yangquan Taekwondo Association and Pocheon Taekwondo Association. 

The sport of taekwondo first arrived in Yangquan in early 2000. In recent years, the city has organized coaches and outstanding athletes to South Korea for exchanges and studies. It has also held taekwondo exchange competitions annually to improve its competitive levels in the sport.

There are more than 30 taekwondo clubs and over 3,000 locals who practice taekwondo in the city, which have cultivated quite a few outstanding taekwondo athletes. 

The two cities became international friendly partner cities last August, when a municipal government delegation from Pocheon city visited Yangquan and signed a sister city agreement.