Paris gets taste of K-culture at Busan's World Expo 2030 bid show

Signage promoting CJ ENM’s K-pop concert. [CJ ENM]

Korea's popular music show Mcountdown captivated K-pop fans in Paris on Sunday as it put on a show at the French capital to promote Busan's bid for the 2030 World Expo.

Titled "Mcountdown in France," the music show was hosted by Korean conglomerate CJ Group.

In attendance at the show was the Bureau International des Expositions’ (BIE) delegation of each member state, Jang Sung-min, a special envoy of President Yoon Suk Yeol who is an incumbent future strategy planning officer at the presidential office, and Choi Jai-chul, who serves as the Korean Ambassador to France.

“The large number of ambassadors and officials from foreign missions in France who joined this moment shows growing support for Korea,” Jang said.

“The show epitomized wonderment and hope, making Parisienne crowds go wild with excitement by doubtlessly showing Korea’s strength and authentic charm.”

The delegations could not take their eyes off the spectacle where people of all ages and nationalities enjoyed Korean culture throughout the show.

The show began with a collaborative performance of K-pop and taekwondo, Korean martial arts. K-pop fans shared the stage with the artists and the show ended with a performance of PSY’s “Gangnam Style” (2012) where thousands of fans sang along.

Korean culture, also known as K-culture, is appraised as a factor making Busan stand out among the competing candidates. K-pop, K-drama and K-movies have all become global sensations and elevated Korea’s profile as a cultural powerhouse.

CJ ENM, a subsidiary entertainment conglomerate under CJ Group, “has put efforts in creating content of various genres depicting Busan’s beautiful natural landscape and highlighting the city’s capabilities in hosting the Expo and better promoting Korea’s bid to host the 2030 Expo in Busan,” a source from CJ ENM said.

Following the KCON, which is the CJ ENM’s global K-pop festival, the Mcountdown set in France on Sunday left a strong impression of Busan’s aims to host the World Expo 2030 in the minds of global K-culture fans. The company effectively showed K-culture’s global power by hosting the show in Paris, the city where the BIE’s headquarters is located.

Other Korean large conglomerates, most notably Hyundai, SK and Samsung, have all put out endorsements to support Korea’s bid to win.

Rome in Italy and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia are competing candidates in a bid to host the World Expo 2030. The winner will be decided in late November through a secret ballot with a single vote given to each BIE member state.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]