Park Heong-joon, Busan Metropolitan City Mayor, talks during an interview with The Korea Times, July 11. Courtesy of Busan Metropolitan City

Busan mayor seeks to capitalize on K-pop boom as part of expo bid

By Ko Dong-hwan

BUSAN ― Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon expressed confidence in winning the bid to host World Expo 2030, saying that the nation's soft power together with strong support from the business community will help the port city beat the oil-rich Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.

"We have the resources to draw the attention of the general public like K-pop and other K-culture, which Saudi Arabia doesn't have. So even though we may be behind Saudi Arabia right now, the real race hasn't begun yet. If we do our best, we can win this race," said Park during a recent interview with The Korea Times at his office in Busan.

The mayor admitted that his city started almost a year later than Saudi Arabia to launch a global bid to host the World Expo 2030. When Korea's biggest coastal city started creating a buzz about the bid last year, its Middle Eastern rival had already begun lobbying countries with financial incentives to make its capital the ultimate winner.

The race, now past the second round of presentations held at the Bureau International des Expositions' (BIE) headquarters in Paris in June, has narrowed down to Busan, Riyadh and Rome. But based on the current outlook, Busan and Riyadh are well ahead of the Italian capital.