2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games

'US to Send Full Delegation to PyeongChang Olympics': U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley says that the United States will send its full delegation of athletes to next year's PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Haley made the remark on Sunday during an interview with Fox News, when asked whether the U.S. would send its full team. [Sound bite: U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley] “We’re doing in this Olympics what we’ve done in every single Olympics. If you look back, we have always talked about security in the Olympics. We’ve always talked about keeping our athletes safe.” Haley said there would be no change in American participation after saying last week it was an “open question” whether the U.S. would send its athletes to the February games, citing safety concerns. Military tension on the Korean Peninsula has increased after North Korea's launch last month of a new intercontinental ballistic missile it claims is capable of striking all parts of the U.S.; 2017-12-11
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Seoul Official: Trump Promised PyeongChang Participation: Amid uncertainties over American athletes' participation in the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics, officials in Seoul highlighted that the U.S. president has already promised to send the U.S. national team to the games. An official at the South Korean presidential office said Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump had given his word during a prior phone call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The remarks come after U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday that it's an "open question" whether American athletes will take part in the February games. [Sound bite: U.S. Ambassador to UN Nikki Haley] "There's an open question. I have not heard anything about that, but I do know in the talks that we have -- whether it's Jerusalem or North Korea -- it's about, how do we protect the U.S. citizens in the area?" Following her remarks, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders wrote in a tweet on Thursday that "the U.S. looks forward to participating in the Winter Games in South Korea." However, the White House spokeswoman was unclear if the U.S. athletes are coming as she added that the protection of Americans is Washington' top priority. The top office official added that the U.S. Olympic Committee(USOC) had announced two months ago that it will be sending teams to the PyeongChang Olympics and Paralympics. Following Haley's comments, USOC Spokesman Mark Jones said in a statement that the committee has not had any discussions, either internally or with U.S. government partners, about the possibility of not taking part in the PyeongChang Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. He then said the committee plans on supporting two full delegations to PyeongChang.; 2017-12-08
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Putin to Send Russian Athletes to 2018 PyeongChang Olympics: Anchor: Russian President Vladimir Putin said he will not boycott the PyeongChang Olympics. The remarks come after the International Olympic Committee banned Russia from taking part following the confirmation of doping violations. Our Park Jong-hong has the details. Report: [Sound bite: Russian President Vladimir Putin (Russian)] "Without any doubt we will not declare any kind of blockade. We will not block our Olympians from taking part, if any of them wish to take part as individuals." Russian individual athletes will be allowed to take part in the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games. After launching his re-election campaign on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in televised remarks that he will allow his country’s athletes to take part as individuals if they wish to. [Sound bite: Russian President Vladimir Putin (Russian)] "Many athletes, I know many of them personally, have been preparing for these competitions their entire lives, it wasn't only a couple of years of preparation, they have been preparing for their whole careers, and for them it's very important. So we won't ban anything to anyone, block or create conditions that would make participation impossible." This position relieves concerns that Russia would boycott the PyeongChang Games in response to the International Olympic Committee’s(IOC) ban on Russia for doping violations at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Russian Olympic champions - Yelena Isinbaeva and Evgeni Plushenko- quickly started to encourage athletes to go to South Korea for the games. South Korean-born Russian short track speed skater Victor An said Wednesday he wishes to compete as a neutral athlete. A star athlete and a medal hopeful in the winter games, An said he can’t give up on his Olympic dreams adding he has been preparing for the event for four years. Earlier on Tuesday, the IOC decided that Russian athletes will be allowed to compete under the designation "Olympic Athlete from Russia" and march behind the Olympic flag at opening ceremonies. At medal ceremonies, the Olympic anthem will be played for the neutral athletes instead of the Russian national anthem. Park Jong-hong KBS World Radio News.; 2017-12-07
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S. Korea Encourages Russian Athletes to Join PyeongChang Olympics: The South Korean government released an official statement on Thursday encouraging Russian individual athletes to take part in the upcoming PyeongChang Olympics. In a statement, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism expressed regret over the International Olympic Committee's decision to bar Russia from competing in the Winter Games due to doping violations. The statement said that, for the past seven years, South Korea and its people have made every effort to make the PyeongChang Olympics a global sports gala of peace and harmony. It said the participation of athletes from all around the world in the Olympics is the key PyeongChang's success and the most important factor to realizing the spirit of the games. The statement then called on Russian athletes as well as athletes from other countries to actively take part in the Winter Games.; 2017-12-07
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Putin Says Russia Won't Boycott PyeongChang Olympics: Russian President Vladimir Putin says he will not boycott the PyeongChang Olympics, after the Russian team was barred from competing for doping violations. Russia's Tass news agency said that Putin made the remarks on Wednesday during his visit to an automobile factory in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, some 400 kilometers east from Moscow. In the televised remarks, Putin said that his government will allow any Russians who wish to take part in the games to compete as neutral athletes, saying that Russia will not declare any kind of blockade. The Russian Olympic Committee will hold a meeting next Tuesday to make a final decision on the matter. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday banned the Russian team from the Games as punishment for doping violations at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The IOC, however, plans to invite individual Russians to compete under the Olympic flag.; 2017-12-07
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Russia Banned from PyeongChang Olympics over Widespread Doping: Anchor: The International Olympic Committee's Executive Board said that it is banning the Russian sports delegation from taking part in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The decision is based on the confirmation that Russia manipulated anti-doping rules. Our Park Jong-hong has the details. Report: No athletes will be allowed to represent Russia at the upcoming PyeongChang Olympics. Instead, individuals will only be able to compete as neutral participants, under the designation "Olympic Athlete from Russia," provided they meet strict conditions such as no previous disqualifications and no doping violations. This also means that the Olympic anthem and not the Russian anthem will be played should the athletes win gold medals. Following the International Olympic Committee's(IOC) meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Tuesday, IOC President Thomas Bach claimed that Russia's statewide doping was "an unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games." He was referring to the confirmation of systemic doping manipulation by Russia through extensive investigations following the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. [Sound bite: International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (English)] “This is why the IOC executive board has today suspended the Russian Olympic Committee with immediate effect, but has also respected the individual rights offered to clean athletes by allowing individual clean athletes from Russia to participate in the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.” Organizers of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics said Wednesday that they "respect" the decision by the IOC to ban Russia from the competition. The last country that was banned from the Olympics was South Africa. The nation was banned from competing from 1964 until 1988 because of its racial segregation policy known as apartheid. Park Jong-hong, KBS World Radio News.; 2017-12-06
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Russia Barred from PyeongChang Olympics over Doping: The International Olympic Committee(IOC) announced on Tuesday that it has suspended Russia's Olympic team from competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics over the country's doping scandal. The IOC, however, decided to permit individual athletes from Russia to compete in the upcoming PyeongChang Olympics as neutrals under strict conditions. The IOC executive board reached the decision during a meeting in Switzerland on Tuesday. Any Russian athlete ultimately allowed to compete will do so under the designation "Olympic Athlete from Russia"(OAR) with a corresponding uniform, and will march behind the Olympic flag at opening ceremonies and hear the Olympic anthem at medal ceremonies. The decision was made after the IOC investigated allegations that Russia was involved in state-sponsored doping at the Sochi Olympics in 2014. IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement Tuesday that Russia's doping was an unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and sport.; 2017-12-06
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PyeongChang Olympics Themed Subway Cars to Run for Next 3 Months: Subway trains decorated with images of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will run for the next three months to promote the Games. The Winter Olympics organizing committee said on Monday that ten subway cars themed with the Olympics, which started operations on November 23rd, will run six times a day for three months on Subway Line 2 in Seoul. The subway car interior is covered with images of the Olympic mascots, Bandabi and Soohorang, the official licensed products and stadiums for the Games.; 2017-12-05
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S. Korea to Grant No-Visa Entry for Chinese Tourists around PyeongChang Olympics: South Korea will allow a special no-visa entry for Chinese travelers visiting the country around the time of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics set to open in February next year. The Justice Ministry said on Thursday that any Chinese traveler who fit the required criteria will be eligible for a 15-day stay in South Korea without a visa, starting December first through the end of March next year. The no-visa entry will be applied to Chinese citizens with records of arrival in and departure from South Korea with a legal visa issued by Korean authorities in the last five years. The applicant also needs to have a ticket to the Olympic Games, purchased through designated Chinese travel agencies. The ministry said that no-visa entry will be denied if the applicant is either convicted of a crime in violation of South Korean laws, or holds an extradition record or a history of illegal stay. It's the first time for the government to apply this special visa waiver for an international sporting event. The Justice Ministry will also allow individual Chinese tourists on cruise ships to land for sightseeing next year. Currently, the move is only applied to cruise ship tourists on group tours. In addition, the ministry extended the length of stay for cruises entering the ports of Donghae and Sokcho during the Winter Games to five days from the current three days.; 2017-12-01
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PyeongChang ICT Center Opens Offering VR and High Tech Experience: Seventy-one days before the PyeongChang Winter Olympics kick off, an information and communications technology(ICT) experience center has opened on the grounds where the games will be held. The Ministry of Science and ICT on Wednesday opened an ICT experience center where people can experience new state-of-the-art technologies that will be used during the games. The center offers visitors a chance to experience bobsleigh through virtual reality, translation services based on artificial intelligence and test out the world's first 5G connection. Until the Olympics begin on February ninth, those wishing to visit must phone or email to make a reservation beforehand.; 2017-11-30
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