PyeongChang draws little attention at mobile fair

By Lee Min-hyung

BARCELONA ― The government came under criticism for wasting taxpayers’ money by ineptly handling its promotional activities at the Mobile World Congress here.

During the four-day tradeshow, five government bodies including the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP), the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute and the PyeongChang Organizing Committee (POCOG) operated a promotional booth for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

But the 105-square-meter booth failed to draw much interest from visitors, largely due to its lack of fancy new technology.

The MSIP took charge of running the exhibition hall for the four-day event, in a bid to raise awareness of the upcoming winter sporting event related to its state-of-the-art technologies.

The MSIP showcased the event preview with virtual reality and 3D holograms, but visitors pointed out that they could not understand the content properly.

Still, the MSIP and the four other state-run organizations sent a large delegation to the event, mostly on taxpayers’ money.

“About 15 officials from the five organizations took a flight to Barcelona for the promotional activity,” a booth official said, declining to specify further.

Critics say government officials sent a big delegation on a business trip for a small booth.

“I could not understand what they were trying to promote,” one visitor to the booth said.

“All I remember after taking a look at the booth is some virtual reality devices and a bunch of officials standing there. One or two officials are enough to promote such a small-sized booth with weak content.”

The MSIP is estimated to have spent at least 300 million won ($262,000) to cover expenses for the officials’ business trip and four-day booth rental. The figure will rise further once taking into account additional expenses ― including R&D to create the content promoted at the booth.

The government organized the event, as the mobile show is regarded as one of the world’s largest tech fairs, drawing 100,000 visitors from 24 countries this year.

Many industry-leading firms put forth great efforts here to attract more attention from visitors and media but Korean officials seem not to do so with the PyeongChang Olympics.