With only 48 days left before the vote to determine the venue for the 2030 World Expo, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo embarked on another last-minute trip to Europe last week to bolster South Korea's bid.

According to his office, government and business leaders have traveled a total of 16,408,822 kilometers as of September -- equivalent to circling the globe 409 times -- in their efforts to promote the Busan Expo.

The total number is the sum of the distance traveled by President Yoon Suk Yeol, the prime minister, State Council members, presidential envoys and businessmen, including CEOs, executives and employees from 13 major companies.

As of the end of September, President Yoon has visited 12 countries, while Prime Minister Han has visited 17, to take part in meetings with top officials.

In addition to the heads of each country, Korean government officials and businessmen met with a total of 2,308 figures abroad to promote the Busan Expo, including ruling and opposition politicians, bureaucrats, diplomats, religious leaders, university presidents, businessmen and employees of international organizations, according to the prime minister's office. Yoon met with 455 people from 91 countries, while Han met with 153 figures from 92 countries.

Prime Minister Han began his eight-day trip on Sunday to France, Denmark, Croatia and Greece.

In Paris, the first destination of his overseas trip, Han attended the 2030 Busan World Expo Official Symposium from Monday to Tuesday. More than 200 key figures from South Korea and abroad attended the symposium, including Prime Minister Han, Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, Bureau International des Expositions Secretary-General Dimitri S. Kerkentzes and SK Group head Chey Tae-won, who also heads the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"The Busan World Expo will be a platform of solidarity to narrow the gap between countries and strengthen cooperation ... to solve the problems we are facing, such as climate change," Han said in his opening speech. After the event, Han posted photos from the symposium on his social media and emphasized that South Korea was able to become what it is now through the support of the international community, saying, “through the Busan Expo, the Republic of Korea is now trying to return the help it received from the international community."