By Jeongnam Kim
(Former Senior Presidential Secretary for Education·Culture·Society, World Korean News advisor)
This exposition, with its curtain raised on the last May 12, is presently on the go successfully. Under the subject 'The Seas Alive, Breathing Seashore,' it will run for 93 days. This is the second expo officially recognized to be held in Korea by the BIE after the Daejon Expo held in 1993.
Korea's Expo history begun in 1893 when we took part in the Chicago International Exposition. Expo is short for Exposition, and this name was officially adopted when Japan's Osaka Expo was held in 1970. The official title of the Yeosu Expo is 'Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea.' This is the first exposition in the history of its 160 years that is being held on the sea itself.
The Yeosu International Expo being held on the seas with the subject of the Seas itself implies quite a significance. The competition and conflicts being staged in the South China Seas amongst China, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Australia remind us of the past oceanic age of conquest. Under the circumstances the Yeosu Expo is being held with our hope for the seas to be a place where all lives co-exist in prosperity, not the object of greed and aggression, but in search of co-existence between the seas and humanity in a city which bears the name signifying a beautiful water.
The Yeosu Expo, held under the auspices of ten international organizations with the participation of some countries, boasts many such superlatives as 'the first' and 'the best.' 'The Big O,' the world's largest water screen, which is the landmark of this exposition' the Korea Pavilion with the world's largest dome screen with the height of 15 meters and 30 meters wide; the world's largest ESD electronic signage digital gallery; the aquarium, Korean's largest; the pipe organ with the largest volume in the world, and so forth.
The large aquarium with some 34,000 oceanic lives breathing alive and a variety of oceanic performances are an attraction you should not miss. The CNN of the United States rightfully designated this expo a must-see travel destination, and the 'Lonely Planet,' the world-famous travel guidebook, selected this expo one of the ten travel destinations for the year. There so many beautiful scenes to see, and so many delicious foods to eat. The Yeosu Expo is a place of festival which heightens the value of Korea as a brand and provides the people with a new hope and pride.
Come and listen. "Stories the ocean remembers, the dream of past far, faraway… The sound that never stops."(The Logo Song of the Yeosu Expo)
