Overview

“The Taejon International Exposition, Korea 1993” was held in Daejeon, South Korea, from August 7 to November 7, 1993. Organized by the Taejon International Exposition Committee '93, it was a specialized exhibition under the Second Categorization System. It commemorated the centennial of Korea's first pavilion at an Expo, at Expo 1893 Chicago, and it recorded 14,005,808 visits.

Origins and the bid

The BIE's 108th General Assembly recognized the Expo on December 12, 1990. It was South Korea's second major international event after the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, and it formed part of Daejeon's ambition to become an internationally recognized hub for science and technology.

Theme and subthemes

The theme, “The Challenge of a New Road of Development,” reflected growing awareness of the environmental costs of economic growth. Two subthemes, “Traditional and Modern Science and Technology for the Developing World” and “Effective use of resources and recycling,” promoted green development, and the BIE describes the Expo as one of the first public platforms on sustainable development. Visitors could try technologies such as a Maglev train, which the public had not tested before, and see prototypes of solar vehicles. Folklore festivals and opera performances ran alongside the high-tech displays.

The site

The 90.1-hectare site lay in the Doryong District of Daedok Science Town and was divided into an international zone, a corporate zone and an amusement park. Its centerpiece was the 93-meter Hanbit Tower, the “Tower of Great Light,” whose granite base recalls Cheomseongdae, a seventh-century observatory in Gyeongju. The international zone brought together 108 countries and 33 international organizations. France presented transport and urban planning, including a TGV model and an electric car prototype, and President François Mitterrand visited on September 15. Canada offered a simulation theater and a car simulator for driving through the streets of Quebec, and Russia displayed a life-size model of the Mir space station. In the corporate zone, IMAX 3D films were among the most popular attractions, and the amusement park, Kumdori Land, was named after the Expo's astronaut-like mascot.

Legacy

In 1994 the site reopened as Expo Science Park, which became Korea's most important public park dedicated to science. Preserved attractions included Starquest, which simulates space travel with animated images, the Electric Energy Pavilion with its 7-meter video tunnel, and Earthscape with its IMAX screen. The park later struggled: by 2013 its 1.3 million annual visitors were about half of its target and debts had accumulated, and a public company, Daejeon Marketing Corporation, took over its management ahead of a planned modernization. The surrounding area continued to grow, with better transport links, the relocation of some administrative functions from the capital, and about 200 research institutes in the Daedeok science district.

Expo 1993 Daejeon raised the city's profile at home and abroad and placed sustainable development at the center of an Expo's message early on, a focus that later Expos would carry forward.