President Yoon Suk Yeol paid a surprise visit to a farewell dinner for an inspection team of the international body in charge of overseeing the World Expo on Thursday, his spokesperson said.
Yoon was in the southeastern city of Busan to preside over a meeting with local government chiefs and later dropped by the dinner at the Nurimaru APEC House for delegates of the Bureau International des Expositions, according to Lee Do-woon.
The inspection team was in the country this week to evaluate South Korea's preparations for its bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan.
Yoon introduced the local government chiefs, including Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Gyeonggi Gov. Kim Dong-yeon, to the delegates, saying the focus of their meeting was discussing plans to host the Expo.
"The central and regional governments, the ruling and opposition parties, and the private and public sectors are all fully supporting the Busan World Expo," he said, according to Lee.
Yoon also noted the dinner venue was the same place where South Korea hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in 2005 and considered the most scenic of all past APEC summit venues.
"It's a place that directly shows Busan's ability to host major international events," he was quoted as saying.
Source: Yonhap News Agency