Samsung's Lee become envoy for Busan's expo bid

Politics

Published: 01 Sep. 2022, 16:59 Updated: 01 Sep. 2022, 22:52

Samsung's Lee become envoy for Busan's expo bid

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong speaks to reporters at the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center in Gangseo District, western Seoul, after returning from a Europe trip on June 18. Lee was named a presidential envoy for Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan and is expected to make a trip to Britain later this month. [NEWS1]

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was made a special presidential envoy for Busan's bid to host the 2030 World Expo.

"In May, President Suk-yeol said we should mobilize all our capabilities to host the Busan Expo and ordered to consider dispatching special envoys if necessary," a senior presidential official told reporters Thursday. "He decided to dispatch Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong as a special envoy for the Expo bid."

Lee had been mentioned with other business executives as possible candidates to support the Busan Expo bid as presidential envoys.

"The aim is to join all our strength to promote the Expo bid," said the official. "We will confirm other companies' executives when we can."

Lee is planning to visit Britain later this month to promote the bid. He is expected to meet with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, the front-runner to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won is expected to visit Japan in mid-September to promote Busan's bid. He reportedly is arranging a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and could also visit Osaka, host of the 2025 World Expo.

Chey, also chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), has been mentioned as another possible candidate for special envoy, but the presidential official pointed out that he is already co-chair of the World Expo 2030 Busan Bid Committee.

In June, Chey visited Paris to attend the general assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the intergovernmental organization that oversees the World Expo, and presented Korea's bid.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the other co-chair of the committee, said on the Busan Expo bid efforts, "I think Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong will go on a business trip to Europe for such activities while visiting several countries around Chuseok."

Other business leaders that could be named special envoys including Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin.

While presiding over an emergency economic meeting at the Busan New Port in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, Wednesday, President Yoon said, "We will focus all our diplomatic capabilities on the bid for the 2030 Busan Expo."

Yoon personally raised the Expo bid in bilateral talks with world leaders on a visit to Madrid, Spain, in late June for the NATO summit.

Korea is competing against Saudi Arabia's Riyadh and Italy's Rome to host the Expo. The winner will be selected by the 170 members of the BIE in November 2023.

The 2020 World Expo was held in Dubai from last October to March after being postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Busan has worked at the 2030 Expo bid since 2019 and envisions a main theme of "Transforming Our World, Navigating Toward a Better Future."

In July, boy band BTS became official ambassadors of the World Expo 2030 Busan and will hold a free concert in the city to promote the bid on Oct. 15.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]