| Members of the BIE Enquiry Mission and Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, second from right, pose in front of a UAM simulator inside the Busan Port International Exhibition and Convention Center at North Port, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
Inspection envoys meet Busan civic groups, indulge in K-culture night
By Ko Dong-hwan
BUSAN ― An inspection team from the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) in Korea on Wednesday visited Busan North Port, which has been the backbone of the city's economy since 1876, and is the proposed main venue and centerpiece of the World Expo 2030.
The BIE Enquiry Mission arrived at Busan Port International Exhibition and Convention Center (BPEX) in the morning, which is on the fifth floor of the International Passenger Terminal. The facility is only several hundred meters behind Busan Station, where the delegation arrived from Seoul the previous day.
Eight members of the BIE inspection team spent the whole morning at the BPEX, watching the third presentation. It showed details about how the new North Port will look after the ongoing redevelopment is completed before 2030. The construction, rigorously reshaping the entire port to make it more appealing to tourists and bigger to dock more ships, has been going on for the past decade.
| At North Port Promotion Pavilion inside the Busan Port International Exhibition and Convention Center, members of the BIE Enquiry Mission and Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, third from left, watch a feature film on a screen and a diorama in front of them. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
The presentation introduced pavilions to be completed inside the new North Port Expo venue. It also included how conveniently visitors to the site will spend time here and how the city government is preparing hotels and other lodgings for tens of thousands visitors from across the world.
The highlight of the morning presentation was an opportunity for the BIE delegates to experience an urban air mobility (UAM) simulator shaped like a four-seat plane with four propellers. The UAM simulator was located just outside the convention hall where the presentation was shown. Wearing VR headsets, the members seated themselves and watched a video inside the dynamic theater-style plane that showed the landscape over the new North Port. Each virtual flight lasted about five minutes.
The delegation then visited North Port Promotion Pavilion inside BPEX. Equipped with a diorama and giant screens, the inspection team watched how the current North Port, heavily concentrated with trading barges and fishing vessels, will transform into a community-friendly park and tourism spot.
| Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, BIE Enquiry Mission leader Patrick Specht and the rest of the mission members watch K-Culture Night show at Busan Cinema Center in the city's Haeundae District, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
North Port is the heart of the country's biggest port city that had once acted as South Korea's temporary capital during the Korean War when North Korea crossed the inter-Korean border, leaving a trail of destruction along its way.
The port now handles millions of tons of containers for international trade each year. Flanking the port on the ocean, the world's first floating community is jointly being planned by the city government and the United Nations Human Settlements Program to propose a new solution for climate refugees victimized by rising sea levels.
Because most of the port is state-owned, the site has very little risk of being privatized, according to the city government.
| Audience members alongside Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon and members of the BIE Enquiry Mission watch K-pop artist Rain performing during K-Culture Night at Busan Cinema Center, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
Wrapping up their time at the BPEX, the delegation moved on to Asti Hotel Busan Station to meet representatives of local civic groups and organizers of the Busan Expo. Fifteen representatives from civic groups, including the YMCA and YWCA, three executive officials from the city government including the vice mayor for economic affairs, Korean Ambassador to France Choi Jai-chul and the Executive Chair of the Citizen's Committee on Bid for the 2030 World Expo Busan Park Eun-ha joined the luncheon.
The delegation then met with Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Cho Seung-hwan at the hotel. The ministry supported the Bid Committee for World Expo 2030 Busan by helping the city government and the committee build the North Port Promotion Pavilion.
Following the meeting, the delegation moved back to Signiel Busan, where they checked in the previous day. They then moved to Haeundae District for K-Culture Night at Busan Cinema Center, where they had a chance to mingle with key cultural figures in Korea and watched feature shows.