Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Seoul to invest $6 mil. in bid to build CES-style events
Visitors take photos of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in eastern Seoul during the Seoul Light DDP 2025 Fall festival, Aug. 28, 2025. Newsis
By Jung Min-ho
Seoul plans to launch its own “Seoul-style CES” and “Seoul-style Davos forum” as flagship international business events, backed by an 8.5 billion won ($5.8 million) investment, in a broader push to expand the city’s meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) industry.
The announcement on Thursday comes as the Seoul Metropolitan Government prepares to host major events this year, including an international machine learning conference and the World Conference on Lung Cancer, under its 2026 Seoul MICE industry development plan.
Building on its 2024 recognition as the third‑busiest host city for international conferences in the world — by the Union of International Associations — city officials aim to attract more large-scale meetings and incentive tours. The city plans to focus on events tied to strategic industries such as medicine, engineering, science and economics, offering bidding and postevent support and incentives of up to 280 million won per event, they said.
The city government will boost public–private cooperation through the Seoul MICE Alliance, jointly operated with the Seoul Tourism Organization, to promote the city at major MICE trade shows in North America and Europe. At the same time, it will run intensive marketing campaigns and targeted support to draw large incentive-tour groups from China.
To strengthen core exhibitions and international conferences linked to key strategic sectors, the city government will provide up to 80 million won in support and customized consulting, using the growth rate of overseas visitors as the city’s key performance indicator.
“MICE is a high-potential and core industry that can drive a city’s brand value, lifestyle and economic growth,” Kim Myung-joo, director-general of the city’s tourism and sports division, said. “We will create the best possible environment for business travelers to enjoy work and leisure at the same time, and make Seoul the global No.1 MICE city that people around the world want to visit.”