Cultural icons support Busan's bid for World Expo 2030
K-pop boy group BTS performs during its "Yet to Come in Busan" concert at Asiad Main Stadium in the port city last October. Courtesy of HYBE
By Dong Sun-hwa
BTS, Lee Jung-jae among official ambassadors for Busan's bid for World Expo 2030
By Dong Sun-hwa
Korea has tapped some of the most celebrated cultural icons as official ambassadors for Busan's bid to host World Expo 2030, presenting the country's second-largest city to global fans of Korean culture.
The star-studded lineup includes K-pop behemoth BTS, “Squid Game” (2021) star Lee Jung-jae, Grammy Award-winning soprano Sumi Jo, virtual human Rozy and mega-hit cartoon character Baby Shark.
Last October, BTS members ― RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook ― held a free concert titled, “Yet to Come in Busan” at Asiad Main Stadium in the port city as part of their promotional activities. They performed in front of some 50,000 spectators, thereby boosting people's interest in the Expo.
“It is such an honor for us to become the ambassadors,” RM said during an appointment ceremony at the headquarters of the group's management company, HYBE, last July. “We will try our best to bring the World Expo to Busan and promote Korea's nature and culture to the world.”
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said, “We want to show our appreciation to global star BTS for accepting this role. The most crucial thing for us is to receive the attention and support from our nationals as well as people worldwide. I expect BTS to play a central role in doing this job.”
Actor Lee Jung-jae / Courtesy of Artist Company
Actor Lee, the first Korean to win the Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in the hit dystopian drama, “Squid Game,” is also one of the ambassadors. He recently filmed a series of promotional videos including those featuring four other celebrities ― Arin of K-pop girl group Oh My Girl, singer Jeon So-mi and singer-songwriters Zion.T and Wonstein ― who are collectively called X4. In these fictional videos, Lee establishes a company named X4 Entertainment and launches X4 to promote Busan, and successfully brings World Expo 2030 to the city.
“I was both honored and nervous to become an official ambassador supporting Busan, but I thought hosting the World Expo ― one of the three mega-events in the world ― would benefit Korea and exert a positive influence on our film and culture industry,” Lee said in a recent interview with Busan Ilbo. “I believe backing the bid is one way to repay the love I have received.”
He continued, “If Busan hosts World Expo 2030, the city will be able to share the power of Korean culture and Korean content with people across the globe and create synergy by linking them to different industries. Once Korean culture meets Busan Expo, it will provide an opportunity to enhance Busan and Korea's prestige.”
Soprano Sumi Jo / Courtesy of Busan Metropolitan City
Soprano Jo will welcome the delegation from the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) ― an intergovernmental organization supervising World Expos ― with her performance on April 5. The eight-member delegation arrived in Korea on Sunday to check out Busan's bid capacity.
During the “K-Culture Night” concert, Jo will sing “We will be one,” a song that was written to support Busan. She is the first Korean artist to notch a Grammy award in 1992 for her performance on the album, “R. Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten."
In her previous interview with Busan Ilbo, she said Korean cultural content can be an effective tool to promote Busan.
“Maybe Busan can highlight its connection to Korean culture, which currently basks in immense popularity,” she said.
Rozy, who has more than 150,000 Instagram followers, and Baby Shark have been doing their bit as well. Baby Shark, in particular, plans to unveil an eye-catching promotional video on YouTube later this month. The Baby Shark Dance video is the most-viewed video on YouTube with more than 12.6 billion hits as of Monday afternoon.