SK Inc. video supporting Busan Expo records 10 million views

SK Inc.’s video showing its support for Busan’s bid to host the World Expo 2030, featuring popular artist Lee Chan-hyuk from K-pop duo AKMU, recorded over 10 million views on YouTube.

A poster for “2030 Request from the Future,” a promotional video for Busan's bid to host the World Expo 2030, made by SK Inc. [SK INC.]

SK Inc.’s video showing its support for Busan’s bid to host the World Expo 2030, featuring popular artist Lee Chan-hyuk from K-pop duo AKMU, recorded over 10 million views on YouTube.

Titled “2030 Request from the Future,” it garnered 10.63 million views as of Wednesday after having been released on March 27.

The video — taken in the form of a short film — is set in the year 2030, with Busan hosting the Expo. Lee is heading to Busan to participate in the international event, riding in an air taxi.

The aerial vehicle clashed and then falls into a time warp to the current 2023, when the city is working hard to win the bid.

In order to get back to the year he came from, he embarks on a journey to rally support for the expo bid. The protagonist encouraged citizens to send cheerful messages through a phone call.

“We launched the campaign to promote Busan’s bid for the World Expo 2030 and raise awareness of the event ahead of the final announcement of the host city in November,” Kim Hyung-jun, vice president at SK Inc., said.

“With the World Expo set to become a major platform to discuss high-stake problems that matter for future generations, we hope that the campaign will help people join the bidding effort in an engaging way,” Kim said in a statement.

SK Inc. has been at the forefront of Korean corporations supporting the city's bid, given that Chairman Chey Tae-won, who doubles as Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is the private sector chair of the Bid Committee for World Expo 2030 Busan.

The chairman flew to Paris last year to attend the general assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), to rally international support.

Busan is competing with Rome, Riyadh and Odesa to host the Expo in 2030. The host country will be decided by a vote of 171 BIE member countries in November during a general assembly in Paris.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]