[INTERVIEW]Busan ready to host Olympics, mayor says

BUSAN - Busan will bid for the 2020 Olympics on the back of the successful hosting of this year`s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit forum and supported by infrastructure and experience accumulated over the years, Busan City Mayor Hur Nam-sik said.

"Busan is the best next city to host the Olympics," said Hur in an interview with The Korea Herald.

Busan, mainly known to the world as a lively and industrious port city, is not new to hosting large international events including the Asian Games in 2002 from September to October.

It is also the venue for the annual Pusan International Film Festival that gathered tens of thousands of celebrities, movie executives and public viewers across the world.

A successful hosting of this week`s APEC summit forum will by far be the largest international event, giving Busan a chance to gain significance in the international community, the mayor said.

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This will be such a significant event for Busan and Korea that the government might also seek to co-host it with North Korea should the circumstances allow, Hur said.

"I have the passion and intention to co-host the Olympics with North Korea in principle, but of course we would need to consider the circumstances and progress of the inter-Korean relationship," he said.

In order to bid for the hosting of the Olympics, a city must pass through the approval of the main government by 2009, and submit the name to the International Olympics Committee by 2011.

Although there were several domestic scandals involving Korean IOC members such as former Doosan Chairman Park Yong-sung who recently stepped down from his post due to an embezzlement allegation, Hur said the fervor from the bidding city would be the key factor determining the winner.

Speaking with as much enthusiasm, Hur said Busan was the hub city for logistics in the Northeast Asian region, and the world`s fifth largest container port dealing with 73 percent of all containers coming in and out of Korea.

Busan port is also mapped on the world`s main trunk route, with service networks spreading to China and Japan among others.

Along with the energetic logistics performances, Busan was recently appointed as one of the four main cities to attract international dialogues along with Seoul, Daegu and Seoguipo of Jeju Island.

"When the IOC members came to attend the 2002 Busan Asian Games, many of them were so impressed by the city they said that Busan was ready enough to host the Olympics," Hur said.

Although hosting such international events require vast and sometimes inconvenient participation from the citizens, the mayor said he was sure it was an investment enough to pull Busan forward.

Hur, 56, who became the mayor last June on the ticket of the main opposition Grand National Party, has spent his entire career working in the Busan Metropolitan City and was in charge of preparing for the 2002 Busan Asian Games.

To a question whether he would consider re-running for the mayorship next year, Hur said he would do whatever the citizens believed was the right choice.

Hur added that by hosting APEC, the city saw the production output reach some 400 billion to 500 billion won and created some 10,000 new job posts.

It also showcased that Busan was an apt place to host the large international event in addition to showing the CEOs from around the world Busan`s port, free economic zone, harbor logistics and other information technology capacities, Hur said.

(angiely@heraldm.com)



By Lee Joo-hee