The government decided Monday to station a resident support team in Paris to help in its bid to host the 2010 World Expo.
In addition to opening an office in Paris,; headquarters of the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), South Korea will station a special support team there from next month with officials from the ministries of foreign affairs and maritime affairs.
Chairing the second meeting of a government committee on the World Expo, Prime Minister Lee Han-dong instructed the officials to set a goal of mustering support of more than half the 88 BIE members by end of this year.
South Korea wants to host the expo in Yosu, South Cholla Province, during May 2010 and is competing with China, Russia and Argentina.
The World Expo is an international event covering economy, culture, science and technology and opens every five years. It is expected to draw over 30 million visitors from some 190 nations, bringing the host nation an estimated 16.8 trillion won or 12.8 billion dollars in related production and job creation for 230,000 people.
The government will launch a joint publicity campaign for the World Expo with that for other international events scheduled in South Korea such as the 2002 World Cup finals and Asian Games.