Congratulations, Yeosu!

Yeosu, a coastal city located in South Jeolla Province, won its bid to host the 2012 World Expo Tuesday after a close race that resulted in a runoff.

At 5:50 a.m. KST on Tuesday (9:50 a.m. Monday, local time), the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE) announced Yeosu as the host city for the 2012 World Expo at the 142nd General Assembly, which was held at the Palais des Congres in Paris.

In the final round of voting, where representatives from 140 member countries participated, Yeosu garnered 77 votes, beating Morocco`s Tangier, which received 63 votes.

Yeosu also topped the first round of the ballot with 68 votes; Tangiers of Morocco and Wroclaw of Poland received 59 and 13 votes each.

This is the second time Korea will host the World Expo, following the 1993 Daejeon Expo.

Among Asian countries, Japan has hosted the World Expo four times and China will be hosting the 2010 Shanghai Expo.

abc@donga.com