Yeosu Expo site, which will be open to the public on Saturday, has many exhibition halls unfinished and littered with leftover material from last-minute construction. / Korea Times photo by Park Si-soo

With 2 days to go before opening, Yeosu Expo unprepared

By Park Si-soo

YEOSU — With the grand opening of the Yeosu Expo slated for Saturday, exhibition halls and other facilities are unfinished, littered with tools, electric cords and others, casting doubt on whether the international event’s long-awaited opening will take place on time.

“The expo will have its opening with the construction of some booths being incomplete,” said an official of the organizing committee. “We keep encouraging hosts of these to get everything done as quickly as possible.”

Even the main building of the three-month event, the Theme Pavilion, designed to visualize the expo’s “The Living Ocean and Coast” theme was not an exception.

Dozens of engineers were laboriously giving final touches to the building’s exterior and interior. The front yard of the building was littered with trash and sawdust from a giant saw that trimmed plywood to be used to decorate the building’s exterior.

“We conducted rehearsals three times and discovered some problems,” said a uniform-clad guide standing by the front gate. “Everything is going smoothly so the ongoing work will be done before the opening.” She refused to talk about the problems in detail, saying she was not authorized to speak to the media.

The biggest headache for the expo’s organizing committee in this regard is the International Pavilion, which will present exhibition materials from 104 participating countries.

Of them, 47 countries have promised to build their own independent halls with their own budget, while the remaining 57 have contracted to run their exhibitions in a spacious pavilion built by the expo.

However, only 10 out of the 47 self-financing states — the United States, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, the Netherland, Pakistan, Israel, Russia, Oman and Thailand — are set to greet visitors, while the others still have a long way to go.

The organizing committee has openly vented its frustration to Saudi Arabia since the oil-rich Middle East has done nothing yet reportedly due to a budget shortfall. Its pavilion is set to be built on 350 square meters, which is one of the largest exhibition halls. But the site is currently empty, and surrounded by painted steel panels.

A construction worker familiar with the Saudi Arabian pavilion was quoted as saying in a news report that, “Saudi Arabia planned to invest more than $3.5 million in the project. But its ruler didn’t approve the plan so all related work has been put on hold.”

The organizing committee has repeatedly asked the country to take proper action to deal with this, but it has remained silent.

“We have delivered our messages (to Saudi Arabia) through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. But there has been no response yet,” an organizing committee official said. “If the country withdraws its participation, we will use the space for a restaurant or restroom.”

Observers are worried about a lack of hotel rooms and other residential facilities.

Kang Dong-suk, chairman of the organizing committee, has repeatedly expressed concerns over the shortage of accommodation. He said foreign tourists planning to visit the Yeosu Expo will likely face a lack of hotel rooms.

“We are trying hard to solve the problem,” Kang said during a media briefing, Wednesday. “To ensure convenience for foreign visitors, the committee has formed a partnership with surrounding hotels, motels and other forms of lodging services providers.”

The Yeosu Expo, which runs until Aug. 12, aims to achieve the ambitious goal of drawing 10 million visitors.