Global Fair & Festival 2009 Incheon Korea Kicks Off 80-Day Run

Mammoth event geared toward futuristic cities with the application of high-tech IT and green-growth strategies

Global Fair & Festival 2009 Incheon Korea officially kicked off its 80-day run on Aug. 7 in Incheon with some 2,000 participants including representatives of some 137 cities and 1,500 businesses both from home and abroad.















President Lee Myung-bak in his speech at the opening ceremony said Incheon will be a bridge to link not only capital and commodities, but people and culture as well as the city boasting the top international airport, a harbor and free economic zone. Lee went on to say he hopes the festival will help Korea and the entire world make their dreams and curiosity greater in the future.
Incheon Mayor Ahn Sang-soo said in his speech that he will try to create Incheon's free economic zone, twice the size of Manhattan, into a compact and "smart" city and will show the most dynamic city in Korea and the world to participants of the festival.
Chairman Chin Daeje of the Organizing Committee of the Incheon world event, said the festival is an event designed to look for a future vision for futuristic cities to lead their life in the face of various development projects to improve their landscapes through such means as culture and technology. He continued to say that he hopes many people will find happiness, hope and ecstasy in their future through the city festival.
A multimedia water show, fireworks and performances brightened the start of the international event, the biggest one held in Korea since the Daejeon Expo in 1993.
During the 80-day run ending Oct. 25, the events to take place include some 70 programs at such sites as city and business zones, environment and energy zones located at various venues including Songdo Conventia, the main venue of the event, the City of Tomorrow and the City Planning Hall, which will host supplementary events.
Some of the most interesting events include the High-tech Plaza to display a u-Shelter designed to allow people to rest and relax on a street of the future. Using motion-sensitive technology, the LED special glass screen shows information on events when it senses movement and displays artistic images when no movement is sensed.




























The Community Tower is the landmark of the Advanced Technology Zone, which displays various types of information including world news and congratulatory messages using next-generation display panels and cable networks, making the tower a venue for communication with the entire world during the festival. The tower will also announce the festival's diverse range of programs.
The Media Board will allow visitors to search for information during the event, including information on traffic, weather, the festival itself and missing children, using a large touch-screen LCD media board. The board will also provide citizen-oriented media services including UCC and an electronic visitor's log.
The City of Tomorrow will display a u-City PR hall that allows visitors to experience services that will be provided by the ubiquitous technology of the future and a new and complex transportation transit system that quickly connects metropolitan buses, airport limousines and taxis. It will allow visitors to experience life in the ubiquitous future city as well as the future city represented by the festival.
The Robot Zoo is a world-class robot science exhibition on display in Korea for the first time. The International Robot Science Exhibition is a scientific event that enables visitors to develop their scientific thinking skills by allowing them to operate moving robots.
World Culture Street will exhibit all the highlights of an around-the-world trip as they experience various cultures and scenes at the Global Fair & Festival 2009 Incheon Korea. It will feature the African Hall, European Life and Culture Hall, Lost City Hall and Indian Village. Visitors can take the opportunity to enjoy beer, wine and food from around the world as well as interesting scenes.
The Incheon International Digital Art Festival will offer a world of technology and art never before experienced and visitors will also experience a new art world made by some 50 digital artists from around the globe.
Teddy & Areum Byul-Yi Around the World in a day with a theme of "Teddy Bears Invites You to a World of Fairytales." It is an exhibition of contents that children will enjoy including Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, the Little Prince, the Little Mermaid, Santa's Town, King George Island where the King Sejong Antarctic Station is located, the Moon, Lord of the Rings, the Statue of Liberty and Spiderman. Greeting the visitors is the 10-meter tall Teddy Bear that "washed up on Lilliput when Gulliver was wrecked."
Yoo Jin-ho, head of the public relations team of the organizing committee of the festival said the huge event has been going as planned drawing some 500,000 viewers in the first 10 days since the opening on Aug. 7. it is expected to draw some 7 million viewers from the August 30 when the group tours are to be allowed of which some 4 million will be paid viewers. They set up shades in restaurants and other places to shade the scorching heat and increased the number of tables and chairs to take care of customer complaints, Yoo said. nw

President Lee Myung-bak is with children at the opening day of the 80-day festival with Incheon Mayor Ahn to his right and Organizing Commitee Chairman Chin to his left.

Mayor Ahn Sang-soo of Incheon, delivers a speech at a meeting of the festival Incheon being the host city of the int'l festival.

Chairman Chin Daeje of the Organizing Committee for Global Fair & Festival 2009 Incheon speaks about the festival at a meeting during the festival.

Various scenes from the festival including U.N. Sec.-Gen. Ban Ki-moon, delivering a speech at the 2009 World Environment Forum, one of the events in the festival.