Four Major Groups Actively Join Efforts to Host Busan Expo (Comprehensive)

Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, LG, and Others Form Business Task Force
All-Out Effort by Affiliate Executives for Vote Campaigning

President Yoon Suk-yeol is inspecting the site for the 2030 Busan Expo at the Busan International Passenger Terminal Sky Park on May 31. He is conversing with Choi Tae-won, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Chairperson of the Private Committee Supporting the Bid for the Busan Expo.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Following Samsung and SK, the four major business groups including Hyundai Motor and LG Group have rolled up their sleeves to jointly support the bid for the 2030 Busan World Expo. They have formed separate task forces (TF) within their groups to prepare for voting activities and are actively hosting events inviting diplomats and influential figures from countries with voting rights in the Expo bid.

According to the business community on the 6th, Hyundai Motor Group announced that it invited 26 high-ranking officials at the ministerial and vice-ministerial levels from Latin America to the Hyundai Motor brand experience center on the same day. This was to support the bid for the 2030 World Expo. Attendees included key officials and ambassadors from about 10 major Latin American countries such as Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador, Paraguay, El Salvador, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia, including Arnoldo Andr? Costa Rica Foreign Minister, Eduardo Reina Honduras Foreign Minister, and Jos? Alhel L?pez Guatemala Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food. They were visiting Busan for two days until the 6th to attend the 2022 Korea-Latin America Future Cooperation Forum co-hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Busan City.

Hyundai Motor Group was the first among domestic conglomerates to establish a dedicated organization last August to support the Busan Expo bid. In June, at the second briefing session for candidate countries held at the General Assembly of the International Bureau of Expositions in Paris, a researcher from Hyundai Motor Group’s R&D headquarters participated as the lead speaker.

LG Group has started broadcasting promotional videos for the Busan Expo bid on digital billboards at major landmarks such as Piccadilly Circus in London, UK. Photo by LG

LG Electronics has also formed a task force (TF) to support the bid for the Busan World Expo. The leader is CEO Jo Joo-wan. Under Jo’s leadership, LG Electronics created a Busan Expo bid support TF involving overseas regional representatives, overseas subsidiary management, the Global Marketing Center, the Korea Sales Headquarters, and the Public Relations and External Cooperation Center. They plan to mobilize their network of about 140 overseas subsidiaries to promote and gain support for the Busan Expo bid among member countries of the International Bureau of Expositions (BIE). Top executives, including business division heads, will carry out support activities for the Busan Expo bid during overseas business trips. Additionally, promotional videos for the Busan Expo bid will continue to be displayed on company electronic billboards in Times Square, New York, USA, and Piccadilly Circus, London, UK.

Samsung is also mobilizing executives from its affiliates to conduct voting support activities for the '2030 Busan International Expo.' Samsung affiliate executives met consecutively with government officials from Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and others who visited Korea to attend the '2022 Korea-Latin America Future Cooperation Forum' held in Busan on the 5th and 6th. Han Jong-hee, Vice Chairman and Head of Samsung Electronics’ DX (Device eXperience) Division, met with Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s Foreign Minister, in Seoul the day before. On the 4th, Samsung Electronics’ President and Head of Management Support Division Park Hak-gyu and Samsung Engineering CEO Choi Sung-an met with the Mexican diplomatic delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Carmen Moreno Toscano, who visited the Suwon headquarters, to request support for the Busan Expo bid.

SK Group launched the 'WE (World Expo) TF' on the 1st of last month, shortly after Chairman Chey Tae-won, who is also Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, took on the role of private sector chairman supporting the Busan Expo bid. Chairman Chey began full-scale support activities for the Expo bid by attending the International Bureau of Expositions General Assembly in Paris last month.