The meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations is drawing keen attention from both domestic and foreign media as the participants are expected to focus on finding solutions to the simmering global currency dispute, organizers said Friday.
A total of 645 reporters from across the world have applied to cover the high-profile gathering that kicked off in this ancient city, 370 kilometres southeast of Seoul, for a two-day run, according to the Presidential Committee for the G-20 Seoul Summit.
As of early afternoon, 250 local newspaper, wire and broadcast reporters had come to the press centre while 127 foreign press people from G-20 member countries joined the newsroom, the committee said.
"Foreign media companies are showing keen interest in reporting the Gyeongju meeting," a committee official said. "Even more local and overseas reporters are expected to crowd into the media centre here when the meeting starts in the late afternoon."
To cater to reporters and cameramen, the city of Gyeongju arranged a dinner to provide a venue to welcome both domestic and foreign media into the city, which was the capital of the Silla Dynasty (57 B.C.-935 A.D.), according to the committee.
The city also prepared two courses of tour services for reporters during the two-day run, bringing them to the old noblemen's village of Yangdong and Bulguksa Temple, a Buddhist relic designated as a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
The Gyeongju meeting will be closely watched across the world as economic policy makers from the leading 20 countries are expected to iron out differences over currency policies and set the agenda for next month's G-20 summit scheduled for Seoul.