From Yonhap.
The 2010 Expo opened on May 1st in Shanghai and will run through October 31st. South Korea has installed an impressive pavilion, which you can take a look at on the Expo's site.
The three-story Republic of Korea Pavilion is composed of 20 basic letters of the ROK alphabet. The pavilion showcases blueprints of future cities along with the country's most advanced technology and traditional culture.
There is much more information on the Korean pavilion's official site as well, including a promotional video. Xinhua takes a long look, too, and a CNNGo.com blog ranks it among the "good" of this year's expo, writing
Lots of layers, lots of colors. South Korea nails it in a cutesy candy store kind of way.
This post's title should say the "Taking a look at the South Korean Pavilion," because there's one for North Korea, too.
The pavilion perfectly merges national characteristics of DPRK together with its modern beauty.
From Yonhap.
The Canadian Press writes of it:
North Korea, participating in a world's fair for the first time ever, has a much more spartan exhibit, like the impoverished country itself.
Its pavilion features film clips of life under its "Dear Leader," Kim Jong Il — shots of families bowling and visiting parks — and models of the capital Pyongyang's "Juche Tower" and the Taedong River, a winding stream of shiny clear plastic over wrinkled blue sheeting.
A fountain, a few video screens and a counter selling books and other North Korean paraphernalia sum up the rest.
And a Popular Science blog writes, on North Korea and Iran being next-door neighbors:
After touring the two pavilions, I must say that the North Korean governments's uniquely oblivious brand of crazy comes across very well. Iran's pavilion, however, is filled with very friendly people and is, on the whole, not that weird at all.
Shanghai Scrap has a look inside.
If you follow Jeollanam-do news and events at all *cough* you'll know our very own Yeosu is hosting the 2012 edition.
* March 26, 2010: How's the hotel situation in Yeosu ahead of the Expo?
* March 1, 2010: Yeosu's Water Cube, and other cool buildings for 2012 Expo.
* September 9, 2009: Budget concerns in Yeosu ahead of Expo.
And one of the aims of South Korea's pavilion this year is to promote that city for next time. Nonetheless I didn't pay much attention to the one in Shanghai until, while searching for stuff on Yeosu, I came across articles blasting the US entry and unintentional exhibition of corporate sponsorship. "The USA Pavilion is a Disgrace" writes a Popular Science blogger. The GOOD Blog calls it "a sorry sight," and a blogger on Huffington Post calls it representative of the "'Blackwatering' of US public diplomacy":
the privatization and outsourcing of every device by which America and its people traditionally have connected with other nations and cultures.
2 comments:
The Chinese paid for the Nork exhibit, along with a handful of other 3rd world countries, like Moldova.
46 dead at the hands of the North and it comes to down to this.
Do South Koreans not realize that just using the word, Korea, without the pre-cursor "South" or "Republic of" is just a tad bit confusing to those not living on the Southern tip of the peninsula and who are used to hearing the term Korea usually in a negative light due to the shenanigans perpetrated by the little dud north of the 38th?
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