I have a few articles on the merger
here, and there's also an entry about it on waygook.org. The news kind of slipped under the radar. A coworker told me that Gwangyang has since vetoed the merger, although I can't find any sources to back that up. According to one of the articles I quoted, there was also talk about incorporating Hadong and Namhae into the new administrative city, but again, no confirmation. There is a bridge being built across the bay to improve transportation between the three cities.
There's not too much information about the Expo outside of the advertisements and their echoes in the lapdog press. A friend of mine is/was doing an article on the efforts to secure the Expo, and I'm very eager to read it when it comes out. An interesting story attached to the bid is that one of the most visible committee members,
Chung Mong-koo (Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group) was convicted last year of embezzling over $100 million, but was spared his 3-year sentence because the judge feared the economic impact of his imprisonment.
It will be interesting to watch the area develop. Right now there's so much work to be done to make this part of the country even remotely worldly. Daejon held the expo in 1993, and it was expected to be a catalyst for foreign and domesic tourism to the area---tourism to Daejon?
---but those efforts have since been criticized and deemed failures. Anyway, it's nice to see Yeosu in the news. I don't expect to be here in 2012, but when I read about it in the papers 5 years from now it will be a nice reminder.
