Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, center, Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Chey Tae-won, right, and Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon raise their thumbs at InterContinental Paris, June 20, before attending the general assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). Courtesy of the prime minister's office

Busan faces uphill battle against Riyadh

By Park Jae-hyuk

The ongoing efforts by Korea's top business groups to help Busan win the bid to host the World Expo 2030 are raising questions, particularly as to whether such moves will change the outcome of the competition, as the oil-rich Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh appears to have already won the backing of dozens of countries, according to local and overseas experts, Thursday.

Some have raised doubts as to whether it is really worthwhile for Korean conglomerates to spend their time and money at this moment for Busan's bid, considering the dominance of Saudi Arabia over Korea's second-largest city and the global fair's uncertain economic value. Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, LG, Lotte and several other large conglomerates have vowed to join the government campaign aiming to host the World Expo.

"I acknowledge the importance of the private sector's role in hosting global events like the World Expo, but the international community is already inclined to supporting Saudi Arabia," the chief executive of a Korean organizer for international events said on condition of anonymity. "I do not understand why President Yoon Suk-yeol decided to put the World Expo on the national agenda."

Just a few weeks after he was elected president in March, Yoon asked the business community to play an active role in helping Busan win the race against Riyadh, as well as Italy's Rome and Ukraine's Odesa to be selected as the venue for the World Expo 2030.

Since then, major conglomerates have organized in-house taskforces, ordering their top executives to utilize their global networks to draw support from other countries for Busan's bid. Including SK Group and Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Chey Tae-won, who was appointed to lead the public committee to support Busan's bid, even the owners of chaebol groups have been working to draw attention from their overseas partners to the Korean port city.

Riyadh, however, has already won the official support of more than 70 countries among the 170 Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) members that will select the venue for the World Expo 2030 through a vote in November 2023.

The countries supporting the Saudi capital include the largest ASEAN economy, Indonesia, as well as members of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), despite Busan's attempts to win the hearts of African and Latin American countries.

Saudi Arabia is considered to have garnered their support via "oil money," common religious beliefs and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visits.

African countries are said to be disappointed at the Korean government's reluctance to increase imports from Africa. Timothy Dickens, chairman of the South African Chamber of Commerce in Korea, pointed out the fact that no African country comes even close to being in Korea's top 25 list of trading partners.

"Actions prove louder than mere words," he said in a previous interview with The Korea Times.

Although Busan claimed that it won the support of Honduras and Costa Rica during a forum with Latin American countries on Tuesday, it is still unclear whether those countries made official declarations. The Bid Committee for World Expo 2030 Busan refused to disclose how many countries have officially declared their support for the Korean city.

"We do not have such data, and even if we have it, it is confidential," a bid committee official said.

The Korean government also admitted that Riyadh has been ahead of Busan.

"At this moment, Saudi Arabia seems ahead of us. We should catch up with the country as a second-mover," Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun told reporters last month, briefing them on the results of the BIE general assembly. "Saudi Arabia appears to have preemptively started promoting itself, gathering together with Muslim-majority countries."

The fact that the World Expo 2025 will be held in Osaka, Japan, is also regarded as an obstacle to Busan's bid, given that the BIE members have tended to prevent the international event from being held consecutively in neighboring countries.

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, left, poses with REWE CEO Lionel Souque, asking the German retailer to support Busan's bid to host the World Expo 2030, during the Consumer Goods Forum's Global Summit in Dublin, June 21. Courtesy of Lotte Group

Some experts claimed that World Expos have hardly generated benefits in recent years to economically and culturally developed countries, except for a few authoritarian states that want to improve their images. For that reason, Rome was reportedly passive about promoting the city at the BIE general assembly.

"Italy's presentation made me feel that the country is not that enthusiastic about hosting the event," Ahn said. "In contrast, Saudi Arabia was very aggressive."

En Garde Asia CEO Robert Maes, a Belgian businessman in Tokyo who specializes in organizing global events, expected opposition from Roman citizens to force the city to drop the bid. He added that the World Expo 2030 in Busan would also waste an excessive amount of taxpayers' money just as the PyeongChang Winter Olympics did, refuting Busan's claim that the event's economic value will reach 61 trillion won ($47 billion).

"Until the 1980s, the Expo made some sense, because new inventions and applications were presented to the world and the public for the first time. But now that happens within days through the international marketplace and online," he said.