The Dubai Expo kicked off Saturday for a six-month run after being delayed by a year due to COVID-19. It's the first expo opening in the Middle East.

A record 192 countries are taking part at a venue that is also the largest to date at nearly four-point-four million square meters.

Taking place in the middle of a pandemic, quarantine protocols are in place at all facility entrances.

Visitors must be fully vaccinated or present a negative test result.

South Korea's pavilion will showcase cutting edge technologies and the Korean Wave, or Hallyu, phenomenon.

Port city Busan, which is bidding to host the 2030 expo, is aggressively campaigning in Dubai against its competitors.

The organizers of the Dubai Expo, which continues through March, expect some 25 million visitors from around the world. 

The world expo dates back to the 1851 Great Exhibition in London.