Busan hopes to spearhead growth in southern Korea with World Expo 2030 bid

A graphic aerial image of the North Port following its redevelopment shows the port with waterside parks, cultural exhibition pavilions, clusters of business spaces and wharves that can accommodate mega-size cruise ships. Courtesy of Busan Metropolitan City

By Holly Chik

Right in front of the potential venue of the World Expo 2030, the southern Korean port city of Busan is set to start building the world's first floating city later next year on the waters off the North Port.

A community of 12,000 local and international residents will live on a flood-proof buoyant platform with "zero waste" systems after its completion expected by 2027.

"Korea has the technical capability and engineering talent to make this happen and change the course of history for all coastal cities and island nations facing climatic threats and sea level rise," Itai Madamombe, the founder and CEO of New York-based "blue tech" firm OCEANIX, told The Korea Times.

The new housing model for climate refugees may also welcome visitors and short-stay guests from the World Expo, if the country's second-largest city wins the bid against Rome and Riyadh, the capital cities of Italy and Saudi Arabia, according to the Busan city government's Expo Bid Promotion Headquarters.

"Such an experience will raise their awareness of climate change and cause them to contemplate the alternatives that humanity can adopt for a sustainable future," Cho You-jang, director general of the headquarters said.

While the Expo is a chance to showcase Korea's advanced science and technology and national power, Cho said the country also "sees this as an opportunity to make another wheel of development in the southern area of Korea."

"Once the infrastructure has been improved in the southern area, local economies will be rejuvenated. This will naturally lead to balanced regional development. And finally, Korea will have two strong axes of growth," he said.

Busan is planning to build a new international airport by 2029, relocate current port facilities including a pier and railway by 2026 and link the neighboring Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam regions with a railway network, according to Cho.

He said the ultimate purpose of hosting the international exhibition is to build up Busan as a global hub city where industries such as logistics, finance, culture and tourism would grow and attract domestic and foreign talent with new job opportunities.

Cho said the country is highly centralized with political, economic, social and cultural capabilities gravitating toward the capital area.

"Such concentration has led to housing and traffic congestion issues, while other regions have faced decreasing populations," he said. "More seriously, this collectively has hampered the competitiveness of Korea as a whole."

In 2020, slightly over half of the country's population resided in Seoul and its surrounding areas, which includes the capital city, Incheon, and Gyeonggi, according to Statistics Korea. Nationwide, 18.5 percent of the population lived in Seoul and 6.5 percent in Busan.

The government agency also projected that inter-province migration will continue to flow out of Seoul and Busan between 2020 and 2050, and Gyeonggi and Incheon will receive more population.

Physicist Yoo In-Kwon, the dean of research affairs at Pusan National University, said he strongly supports the bid for the World Expo to be held in Busan, echoing Cho's aspirations.

"Busan city and Pusan National University share the same destiny," the professor said. "Our university is now struggling against the monopoly effect in Korea."

"Everybody is going to the Seoul area. It is not only not good for Busan but also for Seoul. Their competitions become too high and survival conditions are too tough," Yoo, a native of Seoul and a graduate of Seoul National University said.

"And here it's empty, more and more so. It is our big worry."

"If Busan city could make money and make job positions here, students can stay here and not go to Seoul. Of course quality, mind and passion for research (are important), but in terms of absolute numbers, our population must be increased here."

When asked how the lack of talent and students affects research outcomes, he said: "big, huge, critical."

"Especially for big projects, the number of students is critical and essential. With a reduced number of graduate students, projects should be scaled down."

As the dean of research affairs, Yoo said he is working hard to encourage changes to transform the university to become oriented in research of human, social and natural sciences.

"Without the three essential parts, it is not a university. It (should not be) just a training area for companies," he said. "As a national university especially, we should have a backbone structure for real research institutions and projects."

He said basic research is the foundation of developing applied technologies, which the country focuses on. "Without the base, we will always have limits. We can copy something, but we cannot really create something new."

He said the country needed to first develop technologies to stimulate the economy. But now the lack of basic research and originality have left tech giants "just below the top level of technology" and falling short of leading innovators globally.

In November, member states of the Bureau International des Expositions, the international body in charge of overseeing the event, will vote to elect the host country of the 2030 World Expo.

Holly Chik is a science reporter with the South China Morning Post. She is currently based in Seoul, reporting for both The Korea Times and the South China Morning Post under an exchange program.