News
- Roads Leading to Olympic Venues to Fully Open This Month
- All roads leading to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics are set to be serviceable by the end of this year. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport says national highways No. 6 and 59 are set to open next Wednesday. Together with local governments, the ministry invested seven-point-seven trillion won into the road construction project covering a combined 328 kilometers. An expressway connecting Gwangju and Wonju opened last year while another one linking Anyang and Seongnam opened this year. The ministry said that using these roads, it will take two hours from the capital region to the venue of the Olympics closing and opening ceremonies, and only within 30 minutes to travel between the main and auxiliary stadiums. During the Olympic period, vehicles related to the games will have an exclusive lane for faster traffic. Snow removing equipment will also be on standby in case of blizzards.
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2017-12-21
News
- Seoul-Gangneung Bullet Train System Launches
- A high-speed railway linking the South Korean capital to the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games is set to open to the public Friday. The KTX Gyeonggang high-speed line connects Seoul and the eastern coastal city of Gangneung in Gangwon province in just under two hours, and Olympic venues can be reached even faster. That’s compared to the five hours it took previously with no KTX line. The government invested four-point-three trillion won to have the rail line cut across Gangwon’s Taebaek Mountain range. During the Winter Games, opening just 50 days from now, the government plans to operate train lines that will take international athletes and tourists directly from Incheon airport to Olympic venues.
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2017-12-21
News
- IOC Releases Uniform Guidelines for Neutral Russians at Olympics
- The International Olympic Committee(IOC) has released a set of guidelines on Russia's neutral uniforms and logos at the Winter Olympics in PyeonChang. The IOC held a meeting in Switzerland on Wednesday and published the guidelines for neutral athletes who will compete as "Olympic Athlete from Russia" or OAR in the Games. The IOC said that the exact colors of the red, white and blue Russian flag cannot be used in the OAR uniforms and casual kit, and they can only use two of the colors. The red and blue should be of a darker tone. The IOC also banned national emblems or Russian Olympic Committee marking on the uniforms. It suggested a circular logo that says "Olympic Athlete from Russia" in red writing on a white background, with the words "Olympic Athlete from" above the word "Russia" in the same font size.
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2017-12-21
News
- President Moon Doesn't Plan to Visit Japan Before Olympics: Foreign Minister
- President Moon Jae-in is not planning to visit Japan before the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and the Paralympics. This is according to Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa who is currently visiting Tokyo. She added that the government is considering pushing for the visit in connection with the tripartite summit of South Korea, China, and Japan. As for the ongoing review of the Korea-Japan Agreement on Comfort Women, she said that she will explain it in detail to Tokyo before the task force makes public its findings. She added that the forthcoming report is merely an evaluation and the government will follow it up with an official position at a later date.
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2017-12-20
News
- Moon Proposes Postponement of Joint Drills during Olympics
- President Moon Jae-in has proposed that South Korea and the U.S. will postpone their joint military exercises during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics if North Korea stops provocations. The president on Tuesday told U.S. broadcaster NBC that he made the proposal to Washington, where it is currently being reviewed. However, he added that the proposal depends on how North Korea behaves. During the NBC interview held on a KTX bullet train traveling from Seoul to Gangneung where all ice events will be held, Moon said that if North Korea stops its provocations leading up to the Olympics, it will greatly help improve the safety and security of the event. He said that it will also help create an atmosphere conducive to dialogue between the two Koreas as well as North Korea and the U.S. The president also assured the safety of foreigners visiting PyeongChang, saying that he does not believe North Korea will attempt any move to disrupt the Games.
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2017-12-20
News
- Moon Takes Train Trip to Check Preparedness for PyeongChang Olympics
- President Moon Jae-in took a bullet train trip between Seoul and Gangwon Province on Tuesday to check South Korea’s preparedness for the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The ten-carriage KTX train left Seoul Station at around noon, running on the KTX Gyeonggang high-speed train line, three days ahead of the official opening of the line. President Moon was accompanied by 20 South Korean citizens who won the special train ride after buying tickets for the Olympics. Also aboard was another PyeongChang honorary ambassador, Jung Yong-hwa, the leader of the South Korean rock band CNBLUE, and 2006 Torino Olympic short track speed skating gold medalist Byun Chun-sa. The new train line cuts the traveling time between Seoul and Gangneung in eastern Gangwon Province from more than five hours to a mere 86 minutes.
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2017-12-19
News
- PyeongChang, Beijing Sign MOU on Successful Winter Olympics
- The organizing committees for the next two Winter Olympics in PyeongChang and Beijing have agreed to cooperate to ensure the success of their events. The PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games(POCOG) said that committee chief Lee Hee-beom and his counterpart for Beijing Cai Qi signed a memorandum of understanding(MOU) on mutual exchange and cooperation. The memorandum was signed on Thursday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who is on his first state visit to China, and Chinese President Xi Jinping also attended the ceremony. The PyeongChang committee expects the MOU to generate public interest in the 2018 Games in China, attracting Chinese tourists and boosting ticket sales. Under the agreement, PyeongChang and Beijing will implement a variety of programs to increase bilateral cooperation and exchanges.
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2017-12-15
News
- Russia to Allow Individual Athletes to Take Part in PyeongChang Olympics
- Russia's Olympic Committee announced Tuesday it will permit individual athletes to participate in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. The International Olympic Committee barred Russia from the 2018 games in connection with a doping scandal. Some 200 athletes wearing a neutral Olympic flag uniform are expected to compete in PyeongChang, provided that they pass a doping test. An Olympic anthem, not the Russian anthem, will be played for winners on the medal stand.
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2017-12-13
News
- Defense Minister Stresses Military's Role for Peaceful PyeongChang Olympics
- Defense Minister Song Young-moo is urging the military to maintain a high state of alertness in order to ensure a safe and secure Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Song visited a military field command post in Pyeongchang Tuesday, calling on personnel to do their utmost to ensure an Olympics of peace. He said the military’s assistance in maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula will be especially important when the entire world comes to South Korea to enjoy the games.
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2017-12-12
News
- 'Russian Athletes Want to Compete at Olympics Even as Neutrals'
- A majority of Russian athletes are reportedly in favor of competing at the upcoming Pyeongchang Winter Olympics despite a ban on the national team. According to Russia's Tass news agency, the chief of the Russian Olympic Committee's athletes' commission Sofia Velikaya said on Monday that all the athletes who expressed their opinions on the matter were in favor of competing. Velikaya said no athletes have told the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) they would rather boycott, adding everyone is preparing and hoping to compete. The ROC official, however, added that individual athletes must first receive invitations from the International Olympic Committee to participate in the Games. The IOC last week barred the Russian team from Pyeongchang because of doping offenses at the 2014 Sochi Games, but is allowing Russians to compete under a neutral flag as "Olympic Athletes from Russia."
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2017-12-12
News
