By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun congratulated Yeosu City on winning the right to host the 2012 World Expo by sending a message to the bidding committee Tuesday.
Yeosu, a port city about 455 kilometers south of Seoul, beat Tangiers in Morocco and Wroclaw in Poland in a secret vote during the general conference of the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE) in Paris.
``Together with my fellow Koreans, I'm delighted with the news of Yeosu being selected as the host of the 2012 World Expo.'' Roh said in the massage.
The President added he would like to send special congratulations to the citizens of Yeosu and residents in South Jeolla Province.
``Hosting the World Expo will be a vital turning point to seeing further development of the southern coastal region and an elevation of the country's status on the global stage,'' he said.
Expressing his gratitude, Roh asked Yeosu citizens and bidding committee officials to make greater efforts to host the exposition successfully.
For more than a year, Roh has spared no efforts in helping the city win, instructing both the public and private sectors to give all they have to make the bid successful.
Yeosu was the first city to make a bid to host the Expo. It submitted applications to the BIE on March 23, 2006.