Yoon's Statement After Expo Bid Failure: "My Shortcomings... Developing Busan, Marine, and Other Hubs"

2030 Expo Bid Failure Public Address
Global Strategic Diplomacy Will Proceed Without Disruption
Congratulations to Saudi, the Selected Host Country

President Yoon Suk-yeol apologized on the 29th for the failure to secure the 2030 World Expo (Expo) in Busan, saying, "Please consider it all my shortcomings." He also reaffirmed his determination to continue pursuing the goal of developing Busan as an international financial and advanced industry digital hub, which was planned to be promoted for the 2030 Expo bid.

On the morning of the same day, President Yoon held a national address at the Yongsan Presidential Office and stated, "I also met with leaders of 96 countries and had over 150 meetings, and even had direct phone calls with leaders of dozens of countries, but it seems that our predictions about the positions we felt during contacts between the public and private sectors were largely off," expressing his thoughts.

President Yoon first said, "We pursued the 2030 Busan Expo bid with the joint efforts of the government and private sectors, carrying the aspirations of not only the citizens of Busan but the entire nation, but we failed," and expressed gratitude to Park Hyung-jun, Mayor of Busan, Choi Tae-won, co-chairman of the private joint committee for the bid and chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SK Chairman), French diplomats on site, and business leaders who had been involved in the bid activities.

He added that the public and private sectors had worked tirelessly for a year and a half and apologized again, saying, "It is my shortcoming as the president that I did not lead and command this well to secure the bid."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He also expressed his determination to continue implementing the national balanced development strategy and the promotion of becoming a global central country, which were emphasized during the Expo bid process. President Yoon has been promoting national balanced development with Seoul, Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, and Gangwon as one axis, and Yeongnam and Honam regions centered on Busan as the other axis.

President Yoon emphasized, "If we have unbalanced growth where only specific regions develop, it will be difficult to nurture our potential growth power and achieve leapfrog growth," adding, "Just as in soccer, where using the entire field leads to a good game, if we want to jump further from being one of the world's top 10 economies, we must fully industrialize and utilize all regions of our territory."

He continued, "We will continue to develop Busan as a hub for maritime affairs, international finance, and advanced digital industries, and organically connect the southern regions of Yeongnam and Honam to build infrastructure so that all economic and industrial activities can proceed smoothly without having to come to Seoul," he added.

President Yoon also said, "During the Expo bid process, we emphasized to the international community that 'we have grown this much from the ruins of war with much help from the international community, and now we want to give back. Therefore, the Busan Expo is an Expo of sharing and solidarity,'" and explained, "There is no change in this foreign policy stance, and under the vision of global pivotal diplomacy, we will thoroughly pursue and implement responsible contributions for the national prestige of the Republic of Korea." Furthermore, he congratulated Saudi Arabia, the host country selected for the 2030 Expo, and pledged to assist in the successful hosting of the Expo in Riyadh.

In addition, President Yoon said, "Once again, as the president who took overall command and responsibility for the Expo bid, I apologize to the citizens of Busan and the people for the disappointment caused," and reiterated, "It is all my shortcomings."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.