Busan's pop-up cafe in Paris to give city's Expo bid a boost

The Busan city government on Tuesday opened a pop-up store in Paris called Café de Busan to promote the city's 2030 World Expo bid. [BUSAN CITY GOVERNMENT]

The Busan city government on Tuesday opened a pop-up cafe in Paris to promote the city’s bid for the 2030 World Expo.

Dubbed Café de Busan, the store will be opened through Wednesday near Westfield Forum des Halles, a shopping complex in Châtelet–Les Halles, Paris.

The opening coincides with the General Assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the Paris-based 179-member intergovernmental organization in charge of overseeing the World Expo, which takes place from Tuesday to Wednesday.

According to the city government, customers can experience Korean culture and the 2030 Busan World Expo at the cafe. Activities on offer include creating Korean names, making dalgona (Korean candy made from melted sugar and baking soda), and getting temporary tattoos of Boogie, the Busan expo mascot.

To promote the expo’s sub-theme of “sustainable living with nature,” biodegradable balloons that dissolve into carbon dioxide and water will be handed out to visitors at the venue.

A so-called Busan Expo tree, decorated with trash-shaped ornaments to highlight the importance of climate change and environmental pollution, will also be on display at the cafe entrance. Customers can receive drinks and goods as they take the ornaments off the tree.

The exterior wall of the cafe is decorated with posters of the promotional ambassadors for Busan’s bidding activities, including actor Lee Jung-jae, boy band BTS, and Pinkfong Company’s Baby Shark.

Drinks such as coffee mix and camellia-ade will be on offer to give customers a taste of Korea and Busan. Camellia is the city’s floral emblem.

Hwasumok, a gugak (traditional Korean music) team, and Paris-based K-pop cover dance crew RISIN' will perform at the Trocadéro Square as well as bridges on the Seine River through Wednesday, lending their support for Busan’s bid.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]