'Korea needs to utilize hallyu, economic development to host World Expo'

Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong meets Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico City and requests support for Busan's bid to host the World Expo 2030, Sept. 6. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

By Kim Hyun-bin

Korea needs to utilize some of its unique strengths such as hallyu, the Korean cultural wave, and its rapid economic development to boost its ongoing campaign to host the World Expo 2030 in Busan, according to the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), Thursday.

The FKI released the results of an analysis of four countries that hosted the Expo in recent years. The countries have been successful in attracting the Expo with differentiated strategies by taking advantage of their own strengths.

"Saudi Arabia's Riyadh is gaining support from African countries by promoting oil money, but if we emphasize the development experience that only Korea can share, along with strategic cooperation between the public and private sectors, there is a chance to win,” an FKI official said.

China succeeded in hosting the 2010 Shanghai Expo after the leadership had a strong will to host the Expo backed by the central government's full support. Following the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China designated the 2010 Expo as its second major national event.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) highlighted that it had a higher proportion of internet users than its competitors.

In 2013, the ratio of internet users to the UAE's population was 88 percent, which was significantly higher than its competitors, Russia (68 percent) and Brazil (51 percent), as well as the Middle East and Africa region (36 percent).

The UAE took advantage of this strength to launch the #DubaiExpo2020 hashtag campaign. It won the competition to host the Expo through social media promotions, with many famous Hollywood celebrities and politicians expressing their support through social media.

Italy succeeded in hosting the 2015 Milano Expo by setting “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” as the theme. The focus was on food safety, agricultural technology, biodiversity, the agro-food supply chain, dietary education and food culture.

Based on the examples of prior Expo hosts, the FKI argued that Korea should utilize its strengths in order to successfully host the 2030 World Expo in Busan.

The FKI said the global popularity of Korean pop culture and the sharing of development experience should be used to gain support from member countries of the Bureau International des Expositions.