The 2018 Winter Paralympics are set to open in PyeongChang next week just eleven days after the closing of the Winter Olympics. 

The Paralympics will kick off on March ninth for a ten-day run in Pyeongchang, Jeongseon and Gangneung in Gangwon Province. 

About 17-hundred people, including over 600 athletes from some 50 countries around the world will participate in the games under the theme of "Passion, Connected."

The athletes will compete for 80 gold medals in six sports--Alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice hockey, snowboarding and wheelchair curling.

Russian athletes will participate as "Olympic athletes from Russia."

North Korea will send athletes to compete at the Winter Paralympics for the first time.