ＷＴＡ Ｐｒｅｓｉｄｅｎｔ Ｓｉｍ Ｊａｅ－Ｄｕｃｋ ａｎｄ Ｈｉｓ Ｐａｒｔｙ Ｖｉｓｉｔ Ｃｈｉｎａ

Ｘｉａ　Ｇｕｏｚｈｕ

Sim Jae-Duck, president of the World Toilet Association (WTA), and his party visited Beijing, Shandong and Shanghai from May 19 to 23 at the invitation of the CPAFFC.

Sim Jae-Duck is the founder of the WTA, a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, and former mayor of Suwon. At his initiation, the Inaugural General Assembly of the World Toilet Association was held in Seoul in November 2007. A delegation of the CPAFFC and local government officials attended the Inaugural General Assembly, at which CPAFFC Vice President Li Xiaolin, as a Chinese representative, was elected vice president of the WTA.

The aim of the WTA is to popularize convenient sanitary toilet for all mankind to prevent diseases caused by insanitary toilet so that people of all countries can enjoy a happy life. The CPAFFC has been chosen to host the First General Assembly of the World Toilet Association in 2009.

On May 19, CPAFFC Vice President Li Jianping met with President Sim Jae-Duck and his party and had a working meeting with them on the holding of WTAs General Assemblyin China.

Sim Jae-Duck and his party visited Beijing, Shanghai, and Jinan and Zibo of Shandong Province from May 20 to 23, had meetings with the municipal administration commission, construction bureau, environmental sanitation administration and landscape and forestation bureau of these cities, and inspected public toilets.

President Sim Jae-Duck was very satisfied with his investigation tour of these cities and expressed confidence in the success of the First General Assembly that would be held in China in 2009. He hoped that the toilet movement would have Chinas support and that with the concerted efforts of all, the function of toilet would be upgraded from providing a convenient sanitary place to meet human physical need to a space of health, rest and culture.

Sim Jae-Duck and his party arrived in China on the first day of the countrys national mourning period for the victims of the Sichuan earthquake. They came to the CPAFFC straight from the airport to take part in the mourning and made donations to the quake-stricken areas. Sim Jae-Duck spoke highly of the prompt and effective measures taken by the Chinese government after the earthquake and hoped that the Chinese people would unite as one and rebuild the quake areas at an early date. When the Korean friends learned that mobile public toilets are in urgent need in the disaster areas, they immediately contacted the Korean enterprises. In a recent letter to CPAFFC Vice President Li Jianping, the Korean friends said, the WTA has decided to donate 1,000 plastic mobile toilets to the earthquake-hit areas in Sichuan.