2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games

Unified Women's Ice Hockey Face Sweden in Pre-Olympic Match: Anchor: The unified women’s ice hockey team will play against Sweden on Sunday in a friendly match to test their skills. The coaches are said to be mulling over how to make the best of the North Korean athletes. Our Park Jong-hong has this report. Report: The first-ever unified Korean women’s ice hockey team will face off against Sweden on Sunday unveiling their skills and coordination to the world for the first time. It promises to be a display of unified skills combining the talents of both Koreas. The one and only pre-Olympic tune up match will be held at the Incheon Sunhak Ice Rink. The match is already garnering keen attention as it will give a glimpse of the lineup and positions of the 12 North Korean athletes who have been training in South Korea since last week. Combining 23 South Korean athletes, the 35-member squad will be representing a unified Team Korea. Head Coach Sarah Murray is reportedly mulling over the starting lineup, that is, how to proportion the North Korean athletes so that they contribute to the right balance of the team’s overall performance. Experts and Murray both agree that three out of the 12 North Koreans are quite competitive. But the question is whether or not to give the others a chance to hit the ice and it’s unclear whether Sweden will accept having all the athletes take turns competing against them. In any case, the match will prove to be a preview of the Olympics as the unified team is scheduled to actually face Sweden in the second match of Group B. Sweden is a hockey powerhouse ranked fifth in the world and has advanced to the Olympic semi-finals in the past four consecutive Winter Games. Park Jong-hong, KBS World Radio News.; 2018-02-02
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N. Korean Figure Skating Duo Hold First Practice in S. Korea: North Korean figure skating duo Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik held their first practice in South Korea. Joined by their coach and two staff members, the pair practiced for around 40 minutes at Gangneung Ice Arena on Friday morning. After a brief warmup, the pair performed the death spiral, lifts and the toe loop jump. Ryom and Kim are among the ten North Korean athletes who arrived in South Korea the previous day. A total of 22 North Korean athletes will take part in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, including 12 female ice hockey players who arrived last week. The figure skating pair are the only North Korean athletes to have qualified for the PyeongChang Olympics. Although they missed the deadline to confirm their participation, the International Olympic Committee decided to allow them to compete.; 2018-02-02
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Moon to Hold Summit with Abe in Pyeongchang: President Moon Jae-in will meet with top-level officials from 14 countries during the PyeongChang Olympics. In a news briefing on the president's Olympics diplomacy on Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Moon will hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Pyeongchang. He will meet with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee member Han Zheng at the presidential office. He will also hold summits with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Slovenian President Borut Pahor and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the sporting event. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon will meet with the prime ministers of Estonia and Finland and the president of the UN General Assembly.; 2018-02-02
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US Congressman, USFK Chief to Join US Delegation to Olympics: The White House on Thursday announced additional members of the U.S. delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, including members of Congress and the military. The list of high-ranking U.S. delegates includes Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea. Former USFK Commander James Thurman; Marc Knapper, charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul; and Olympic figure skating gold medalist Sarah Hughes will also be part of the delegation. The delegation led by Vice President Mike Pence will attend the opening ceremony on February ninth and other events. The vice president will also be joined by his wife, Karen Pence.; 2018-02-02
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N. Korean Athletes Arrive in S. Korea to Compete at PyeongChang Olympics: A North Korean delegation, including ten athletes, has arrived in South Korea to attend the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The 32-member team, led by North Korean Vice Sports Minister Won Gil-woo, flew in on a South Korean chartered plane from the North's Kalma Airport to land at Yangyang International Airport in Gangwon Province on Thursday evening. Accompanied by three coaches and 18 assistants, the ten North Korean athletes will compete in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating pair and short track speed skating. In the South, they will join 12 female North Korean ice hockey players, who arrived in the country on Sunday and have been training at the Gangneung Olympic Village.; 2018-02-01
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32 N. Koreans to Arrive in S. Korea for PyeongChang Olympics: Thirty-two North Koreans, including ten athletes will come to South Korea via air on Thursday to prepare for and compete in the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics. North Korean Vice Sports Minister Won Gil-woo will lead the delegation. Unification Ministry Spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said the delegation will arrive at Yangyang International Airport in Gangwon Province at around 5:45 p.m., an hour and 15 minutes after departing from the North's Kalma Airport. The North Koreans will be flying with a 45-member South Korean delegation who had taken a charter plane to the North for a two-day joint ski session. The ten North Korean athletes are three alpine skiers, three cross-country skiers, a figure skating duo and two short-track skaters. They will stay at Gangneung Olympic Village, in Gangwon Province, throughout the Winter Games period. A total of 22 North Korean athletes will take part in the Winter Games, including the ten athletes arriving on Thursday and 12 female ice hockey players who have already arrived in the country.; 2018-02-01
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N. Korean Art Troupe to Arrive in S. Korea Next Mon. and Tues.: Anchor: A North Korean art troupe is set to arrive in South Korea next Monday and Tuesday ahead of their performances in Gangneung and Seoul. Kim In-kyung has the details. Report: The North Korean art troupe set to perform in South Korea during the PyeongChang Olympics will arrive in the South next Monday and Tuesday. Unification Ministry Spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said in a news briefing on Thursday that an advance team will arrive on Monday, followed by the main group the next day. The delegation will cross the border through the Gyeongui overland route and leave on February 12th. The two sides had agreed last month to two performances by the 140-member Samjiyon Orchestra in the South. The troupe will perform in Gangneung, where ice events for the Olympics will be held, next Thursday and in Seoul three days later. Baik said the government is currently tallying the cost of the events, but added that Seoul isn't making any payments to the North for the performances. South Korea is banned from making bulk cash payments to the North under UN sanctions against Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. He said the two Koreas have yet to make an agreement on the program of the performances, including whether there will be joint performances by artists from the two sides. During inter-Korean talks in January, the North said its programs will be comprised of Korean folk songs and masterpieces that fit the theme of unification, while South Korea conveyed that folk songs, art songs or classical music would be desirable. Seoul plans to distribute some one-thousand tickets for the performances to the public free of charge through an online lottery. Applications for the tickets may be made for 24 hours starting at noon Friday. Two tickets will be provided to 530 people each. The government will also invite another one-thousand people separated or displaced by the Korean War. Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News.; 2018-02-01
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China to Compete in Record 55 Winter Olympic Categories: Chinese athletes will take part in more Winter Olympic categories than ever before in the upcoming PyeongChang Games. On Thursday, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency said 82 athletes will be dispatched to compete in 55 categories in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. This marks a record number of sporting categories in the winter sporting event for Asia's largest nation, which participated in just ten categories at the Vancouver Olympics and nine categories at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. The number of athletes competing in PyeongChang is also the second largest amount China has ever dispatched to a Winter Olympics. According to Xinhua, Beijing is aiming to strengthen and diversify the fields of winter sports played in the country ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.; 2018-02-01
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N. Korean Delegation to Winter Olympics to Arrive in S. Korea Thurs.: North Korea's delegation to the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games will arrive in South Korea on Thursday. Unification Ministry Spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said that the North’s delegation, led by Vice Sports Minister Won Gil-woo, will arrive at Yangyang International Airport in Gangwon Province from Kalma Airport at around 5:45 p.m. Thursday. Baik said a group of South Korean skiers who are participating in a joint ski session in the North’s Masikryong Ski Resort, will be returning on the same flight as the North’s delegation. According to Baik, the delegation comprises of three coaches, ten athletes and 18 support staff. The ten athletes will compete in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating pair and short track. A total of 22 North Korean athletes will take part in the Winter Games, including the ten athletes arriving on Thursday and 12 female ice hockey players.; 2018-02-01
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Ten N. Korean Athletes Due in S. Korea for Olympics: Thirty two North Koreans, including ten athletes will come to South Korea via air on Thursday to prepare for and compete in the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics. A Unification Ministry official in Seoul said on Wednesday that the North Koreans will cross the border on Thursday afternoon after joining a 45-member South Korean delegation that are returning from a two-day trip to North Korea. A chartered airplane carrying 32 North Koreans and the South Korean delegation will depart Kalma Airport in the North Korean city of Wonsan at around 4 p.m. and arrive at Yangyang Airport in the South's eastern province of Gangwon at 5:15 p.m. The ten North Korean athletes are three alpine skiers, three cross-country skiers, a figure skating duo and two short-track skaters. They are to stay at Gangneung Olympic Village, in Gangwon Province, throughout the Winter Games period.; 2018-02-01
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