Taejon Expo '93 was a three-month
international exposition
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
held between Saturday, August 7, 1993 and Sunday, November 7, 1993 in the central
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
n city of
Daejeon
Daejeon () is South Korea's fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of 1.5 million as of 2019. Located in the central-west region of South Korea alongside forested hills and the Geum River, the city is known both for its technology and ...
(at the time spelled "Taejŏn").
Theme
The theme of the exposition was "The Challenge of a New Road of Development", with various other sub-themes around
sustainable and 'green' development. The exposition was an officially endorsed
Bureau International des Expositions
The Bureau international des expositions (BIE; English: International Bureau of Expositions) is an intergovernmental organization created to supervise international exhibitions (also known as expos or world expos) falling under the jurisdiction o ...
(BIE) specialized exposition commemorating the centenary of the first-ever representation of the "
Hermit Kingdom" (Korea) to a world exposition, namely the 1893
Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. It claimed to be the first exposition held in a developing country, although both the BIE-sanctioned
Exposition internationale du bicentenaire de Port-au-Prince
The Exposition internationale du bicentenaire de Port-au-Prince was a world's fair held in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1949 to mark the 200th anniversary of the city's founding.
Creation
President Dumarsais Estimé argued in 1948 for an exposition t ...
in 1949 and Shanghai's
Expo 2010
Expo 2010, officially the Expo 2010 Shanghai China, was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010. It was a major World Expo registered by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), in the t ...
could also claim this title.
Site zoning
The exposition site consisted of three main areas - the international zone, the corporate zone and the fun park zone.
Being a specialized exposition, the pavilions in the international zone were for the most part pre-fabricated and rented out to the various international participants for the duration of the exposition. 108 nations and 33 international organizations participated at Taejon Expo '93 - making it one of the largest expositions ever held. Among the most memorable were the flagship Korean and
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
Pavilions.
The corporate zone represented the best wizardry that Korean companies could afford, with some spectacular
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
and contents, all along the theme of the exposition, with the majority of these pavilions being permanent in nature. Pavilions included "Starquest" by
Samsung
The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
, and the three-dimensional
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
presentation courtesy of
Daewoo
Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "dae" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerat ...
. For the
Korean Air Lines
Korean Air Co., Ltd. (), operating as Korean Air (Korean Air Lines before 1984), is the flag carrier of South Korea and its largest airline based on fleet size, international destinations and international flights.
The present-day Korean Air ...
sponsored pavilion, award-winning experience designer
Bob Rogers (designer)
Bob Rogers is an American designer, producer, and director, most known for his work in themed entertainment. Rogers is founder and chairman of strategic design and production company BRC Imagination Arts. Rogers oversees the creative elements ...
and the design team BRC Imagination Arts and Iwerks Entertainment (
SimEx-Iwerks
SimEx-Iwerks Entertainment specializes in high-tech entertainment systems, films, film technologies, film-based software, Simulation Hardware Systems and services. The company has partnerships with various institutions, parks, and destinations.
T ...
) produced a 360 degree 9-screen travelogue of a Korean girl who receives magical Circlevision postcards from her pen pals around the world.
There was also the
Kumdori Land fun-park zone, named after the Expo's alienesque mascot "Kumdori" (
Twinkle, the Dream Being
''Twinkle, the Dream Being'' is an American animated television series that aired in 1993 in television, 1992 in Broadcast syndication, syndication in the United States, U.S. and Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, MBC TV in South Korea for Taejŏn Ex ...
), which featured some of the latest in
roller-coasters and other more traditional fun-park fare.
Theme tower
The center of the exposition was pinnacled by the 93-metre high "''Hanbit-tap''" - or Tower of Great Light, modeled on a traditional Korean Observatory, where guests could take a lift to the central viewing platform for a bird's eye view of the whole exposition site. Today, this platform features a few physics experiments.
Also nearby are the flagship Korean National Pavilion and the United Nations Pavilion, which was built in the shape of a graceful dove.
Present-day activities
Today one can visit the former expo site, now called
Expo Science Park Expo Science Park is a science park in Yuseong-gu to the north of Daejeon, South Korea, built for Taejŏn Expo '93. Facilities at Expo Park included a garden, amusement park, and observation tower. While the tower and some buildings remain, most o ...
savour the site from the Tower of Great Light, visit the United Nations Pavilion which now hosts the Daejeon Expo Commemorative Center, World Expo Souvenirs Museum, and Daejeon Unification Pavilion; or use one of the few remaining buildings which host occasional unrelated exhibitions. Further information on Expo Park could be found at the official website. While no longer hosted, content was largely written in Korean, with some English language sub-headings to allow for navigation. The site included the 'Cyberspace' VR Panorama page where one could view 360 degree photo shoots of various aspects of the site. Part of the site is now being used for movie and television productions while another large piece has become the new headquarters for the
Institute for Basic Science
The Institute for Basic Science (IBS; ) is a Korean government-funded research institute that conducts basic science research and relevant pure basic research. IBS was established in November 2011 by the Lee Myung-bak administration as a res ...
which relocated in 2018.
Legacy
Taejon Expo Science Park opened in June 1994. Only three main buildings remain from the expo in the park. These being the Tower of Great Light, the Government Pavilion, and the Peace and Friendship Pavilion. Apart from Expo Park, there is a Korean language legacy website for the Expo, a project of the Expo 93 Foundation, at http://www.expo93.co.kr/. One of the features of the website is an e-books section, where several dozen print resources from the Expo - all official Organising Committee publications - have been reproduced online. Whilst the majority of these are also in the Korean language, one publication in English is the comprehensiv
Expo 93 Travel Manual which is located at this page.
Taejon Expo' 93, like many other former expo cities and regions, is a member of the BIE-endorsed A.V.E. - Association of Expo Cities and Regions, founded in
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
in 2002.
See also
*
Expo 2012
Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea () was an World's fair, International Exposition recognised by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) held in Yeosu, South Korea which opened May 12, 2012 and ran until August 12, 2012. The theme of the Expo was " ...
References
External links
A Brief Review of Expo '93Official website of the BIEKorea Expo Park Official web-siteExpo '93 page at ExpoMuseum.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taejon Expo '93
1993 in South Korea
Daejeon
Exhibitions in South Korea
1993 in the environment
Fairs in South Korea
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...