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RCRC Shares Kingdom’s World Expo Vision with UNESCO World Heritage Committee

The logo of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC)
The logo of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC)
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RCRC Shares Kingdom’s World Expo Vision with UNESCO World Heritage Committee

The logo of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC)
The logo of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC)

Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) has held a reception for members of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee and briefed them on the Kingdom’s bid to host World Expo 2030 in the capital Riyadh.

“Riyadh Expo 2030 is part of the Kingdom’s endeavor to enable all countries to make an impact on the international scale, with the aim of creating a bright future for the planet under the theme ‘Together for a Foresighted Tomorrow’,” said Eng. Abdulaziz Alghannam, the Technical Director of the Riyadh Expo 2030 bid, at the reception on Friday.

“The three sub-themes of Riyadh Expo 2030 represent the Kingdom’s vision to present the most impactful World Expo ever, collaborating for a better future, where ‘Prosperity for All’ seeks to achieve a prosperous and a peaceful planet in which science and innovation are accessible to all. Also, ‘Climate Action’ promotes creative solutions to climate change by uniting international efforts, and ‘A Different Tomorrow’ seeks to harness science, innovations, and technologies to develop new tools for individuals and societies,” he said.

Alghannam added: “Inspired by Saudi Vision 2030, Riyadh Expo 2030 pays great attention to the Kingdom’s civilization, rich heritage, ancient traditions, and cultural treasures, which we would be proud to showcase to the Riyadh Expo 2030 visitors through immersive experiences.”

He stressed that the capital city is fully prepared to host this international exhibition and present the most impactful and unprecedented edition in the history of World Expo.

The members of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee were briefed about the Kingdom's ambitious goals for Riyadh Expo 2030 and the major ongoing development projects which will be ready by 2030.

They were also briefed on Riyadh Expo 2030’s sustainability plans, including clean energy, high standards of resource efficiencies and detailed strategies to enhance and conserve biodiversity, eliminate food wastage, and green waste management and recycling.

The reception by RCRC was held on the sidelines of the Kingdom’s hosting of the meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Riyadh from September 10 to 25, in its capacity as the current chair of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

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South Korea’s Han Sells One Million Books after Nobel Win

A visitor takes a commemorative photo after buying books by South Korean poet and novelist Han Kang near a special section for her at a bookstore in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. The letters read "Congratulations on Han Kang's the Nobel Prize award." and "Awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in literature." (AP)
A visitor takes a commemorative photo after buying books by South Korean poet and novelist Han Kang near a special section for her at a bookstore in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. The letters read "Congratulations on Han Kang's the Nobel Prize award." and "Awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in literature." (AP)
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South Korea’s Han Sells One Million Books after Nobel Win

A visitor takes a commemorative photo after buying books by South Korean poet and novelist Han Kang near a special section for her at a bookstore in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. The letters read "Congratulations on Han Kang's the Nobel Prize award." and "Awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in literature." (AP)
A visitor takes a commemorative photo after buying books by South Korean poet and novelist Han Kang near a special section for her at a bookstore in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. The letters read "Congratulations on Han Kang's the Nobel Prize award." and "Awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in literature." (AP)

More than a million copies of books by Han Kang, the first South Korean to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, have sold locally since the honor was announced, bookstores said Wednesday.

The short story writer and novelist is best known overseas for her Man Booker Prize-winning "The Vegetarian", her first novel translated into English.

The 53-year-old, who also became the first Asian woman author to win the Nobel, was chosen "for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life", the Swedish Academy said last week.

Han's win has created a sensation in South Korea, with the websites of major bookstores and publishing houses crashing after it was announced, as tens of thousands rushed to order her books.

As of Wednesday morning, at least 1.06 million copies, including e-books, had been sold since last Thursday's Nobel announcement, three major bookstores and online retailers -- Kyobo, Aladin and YES24 -- told AFP.

"Han Kang's books are experiencing unprecedented sales. This is a situation we have never seen before," Kyobo spokesperson Kim Hyun-jung told AFP.

Online bookstore Aladin said Han's victory had not only led to a staggering 1,200-fold increase in the sales of her books compared with the same period last year, but dramatically boosted the sales of South Korean literature as a whole.

Since her win, "the overall sales of Korean literature increased by more than 12 times compared to the previous year", it said in a statement.

Sales of two books Han recently mentioned she was reading -- "Inventory of Losses" by Judith Schalansky and "Atlas de botanique élémentaire" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau -- had also surged, Aladin said.

Kyobo Book Center said while it does not have exact figures, Han's books had seen dramatically higher sales compared with other Nobel prize winners.

"We have been in the publishing industry for a while, but this whole situation feels very surreal even to some of us," a Kyobo employee told AFP.

South Koreans have been overjoyed by the news, with Han's alma mater, Seoul's Yonsei University, displaying banners that read: "Congratulations to the proud Yonsei alumnus, Han Kang, on winning the Nobel Prize in Literature."

In her hometown of Gwangju -- where a massacre occurred in 1980 that later inspired Han's acclaimed novel "Human Acts" -- a congratulatory banner was hung on a building fired on by a military helicopter at the time.

Local reports said some printing houses had been operating at full capacity on the weekend to meet the demand for Han's books.

"I've never been this busy since I joined the company in 2006," an Aladin employee told AFP.

"But it's all been very happy."