Seven Korean conglomerates run pavilions with distinctive themes, features


Domestic large companies are getting busy to introduce their pavilions to the visitors as the Yeosu Expo is scheduled to kick off on Saturday.

Seven major companies in Korea ― Hyundai Motor, POSCO, SK Telecom, Samsung, LG, GS Caltex and Lotte ― have completed their pavilions to open it up for visitors of Expo 2012 Yeosu, which runs from May 12-Aug. 12.

The firms will hold briefings for VIP guests to explain the highlights of their pavilions on Friday, when those guests join a special gathering with President Lee Myung-bak.

Hyundai Motor Group, the main sponsor of the international event, has set up its pavilion on about 1,400 square meters of land in a bid to show images that visualize the firm’s five core values ― customer, challenge, collaboration, people and globalization.

The company’s flagship vehicles will be shown in the lobby, along with hyper-surface images which depict the automaker’s future vision.

The pavilion, the largest of the seven, will also show Hyundai Motor’s eco-friendly, resource-cycling management strategy, the company said.

Another interesting pavilion is POSCO’s, a white building that looks as if there are no entrance doors from the front. Company officials said this indicated the firm’s corporate philosophy of “open-minded communication.”

Shaped like an ear from the side and like an eye from the sky, the three-story building houses POSCO’s commitment to develop renewable energy and marine resources in five different exhibition zones.

LG’s pavilion, built on 1,960 square meters of land, also presents the concepts of its environmentally-friendly items like super solar batteries, portable washing machines and make-up pens.

The “media chandelier,” the world’s first moving multimedia art piece, in the center of its exhibition hall, has 54 different 47-inch display panels showing dynamic artwork accompanied by sound. It also showcases to-be-unveiled 55-inch OLED TVs.

Focusing on its theme of “Life is Green,” visitors are able to see a 4.2 meter long and 32.6 meter wide water display screen before stepping inside the building along with an interactive nature exhibition hall.

“The LG building was constructed to be environmentally-friendly, because it was made with reusable paper, recyclables and it further plans to donate the exhibition products to the regional community,” said an LG official.

The Samsung pavilion, constructed by three group affiliates ― Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDI and Samsung Heavy Industries ― is designed to deliver a message of “creative coexistence.”

Aimed at highlighting Samsung’s role as a reciprocal mediator and the ocean as something that helps resolve problems faced by mankind, it will feature performances and images that match the Expo’s theme of “The Living Ocean and Coast.”

Germany and Singapore have also built their own pavilions at the event. Germany will show off its futuristic marine technologies themed on “Seavolution,” indicating preservation of the sea and sustainable growth, and Singapore plans to present how the country could balance growth and development with environmental sustainability.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)