Korean Job Discussion Forums

normalcyispasse · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 3:25 pm Post subject: Yeosu wins bid for 2012 Expo

So, my little podunk-arse town of Yeosu won its bid to host the 2012 Expo!

The predictions of economic growth are extremely optimistic. We'll see what pans out.

Little town, big city, eh?

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200711/200711270007.html

crusher_of_heads · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 3:31 pm Post subject:

That is unfortunate-perhaps Korean government will have to hide the official face of xenophobia for awhile.

parisny · Joined: 05 Sep 2006 Location: Steven Seagal's Brain

I'm stunned that Tangier didn't win. It is a perfect "Expo" city -- not too big, wonderfully located, a stone's throw from Spain and the British enclave of Gibraltar. The food is great, the locals are welcoming and usually trilingual.
I was in Yeosu a few weeks ago and (sorry Normalcy!) the place is simply not ready for an event of that type. Bracing for another round of Korea Sparkling....

tiger fancini · Joined: 21 Mar 2006 Location: Testicles for Eyes

I was happily informed by one of the Korean teachers this morning that Korea had "beating Mollocuh" to hold EXPO.

normalcyispasse · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:17 pm Post subject:

Kimchi Cha Cha · Joined: 15 May 2003 Location: was Suncheon, now Brisbane

It's good news for any long-timers down these parts, if you stay on and acquire an F-2 Visa somewhere in between, there could be some sweet jobs and money to be made coming up round 2012 time.

I'm glad Yeosu won though there's a lot of work that needs to be done. I seriously thought the Immigration incident which occured early would have counted against them.

It looks like Yeosu-Suncheon-Gwangyang will be merging to form a super city then!

Ilsanman · Joined: 15 Aug 2003 Location: Bucheon, Korea

I've never been there, but from all accounts, Yeosu is in a horribe location from Seoul, the country's only true international airport.

If they extend the KTX, it should be okay.

normalcyispasse · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:37 pm Post subject:

Kimchi Cha Cha · Joined: 15 May 2003 Location: was Suncheon, now Brisbane

Smee · Joined: 24 Dec 2004 Location: Jeollanam-do

Interesting times ahead, and I expect there will be many advances in Konglish between now and 2012. "The Living Ocean and Coast" and "World Sea Community" only have so many miles left in them.

Yeosu's a decent enough place, and certainly isn't any worse than other geographically-similar places in Korea. But . . . it's Yeosu. I'd probably have better opinions of it had I never visited there. Yeosu has some decent scenery, but for a waterfront city it's rather ugly. I would love to see them develop the waterfront that arcs around the Dolsan Bridge and replace the little shipyards with a boardwalk pedestrian area. There's a lot of time left to fix things up, though. The KTX will help a lot, as will the new international airport that opened two weeks ago in Muan. No word yet on whether that merger will go through, although if it does it could dramatically improve infrastructure (maybe we'd get a Burger King, too). As I said in an earlier post, there's nothing at all international or wordly about Yeosu, and I thought it a really bad choice, but there's nothing particularly cosmopolitian about Tangiers or Poland, either. It's not like Yeosu beat Paris and Hong Kong.

Busan would have been a much more logical choice, but I guess that would interfere with any hopes it has of hosting the Olympics.

Smee · Joined: 24 Dec 2004 Location: Jeollanam-do

ajgeddes · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Location: Yongsan

Excuse me for my ignorance, but what really happens at these Expos?

makemischief · Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Location: Traveling

periwinkle · Joined: 08 Feb 2003

I did a promo video for the Yeosu Expo. They had all these computer graphics showing the buildings, the layouts, moving walkways, holographic tour guides Shocked

- it was really futuristic and they did an amazing job. Before I did the video, I wasn't very interested, but after I saw the storyboards of all the computer graphics, I was really hoping Yeosu would win. They also promoted the city, so me and my "family" had to slug around in the mud digging for shells and look like we were having a blast (ha ha- I guess we did a pretty job of acting, because it was miserable and I was terribly sunburnt and completely covered in mud at the end of the day). The KTX is planned to go to Yeosu, I guess, because the computer graphics showed the transportation routes, and the KTX extended to Yeosu.

My son will be in kindergarten by then- I'll definitely take him to the expo!! ^~

parisny · Joined: 05 Sep 2006 Location: Steven Seagal's Brain

I lived in Morocco for a while and I agree with you that Tangier is not Shangri-La -- but it is a great Expo candidate in that CAN be improved and has fabulous location and history. Its population is welcoming and, unlike Fes and Marrakech, the city could actually use some extra attention. I liked the idea of an Expo right on the Strait of Gibraltar. I'm sure Morocco sold it as a "three countries-for-one" deal and I really wonder how many envelopees changed hands in Paris...
I also just realized that Spain and Portugal have hosted expos in 1992 and 1998, and there's another one scheduled for 2008 in Zaragoza, so the BIE may have been reluctant to throw yet another expo in that region.