2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games

Moon Urges N. Korea's Participation in PyeongChang Olympics: President Moon Jae-in has said North Korea's participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will make the event a festival of peace, assure the safety of the games and raise public interest. Speaking to Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee(IPC) at the presidential office on Tuesday, Moon said the North's participation in the PyeongChang Paralympics will also serve as a new turning point to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula. Presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun cited Moon as making the remarks in a written briefing. The IPC chief said the door is open for North Korea to take part in the upcoming Olympics. He said that preliminaries still remain to win the right to compete in Pyeongchang and that even if the North fails to win the right to compete, his committee will discuss the matter with other agencies to find a way.; 2017-10-18
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UN Truce Treaty on PyeongChang Olympics to be Adopted Next Month: A United Nations resolution for the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games will soon be adopted, ahead of the global sporting event in February next year. South Korea's Permanent Representative to the UN, Cho Tae-yul, told National Assembly members on Sunday that Seoul is pushing for a UN treaty on a global ceasefire during the Games as well as in the seven days preceding and following the event. A UN truce resolution is traditionally passed by the 193 member states before the biennial games take place, in order to ensure safety and security across the world during the time of global sportsmanship. The treaty will be introduced to the General Assembly on November 13th. Although not binding, Cho said the resolution would have a significant symbolic meaning.; 2017-10-16
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[PyeongChang Olympics 3] North Korea at the Winter Olympics: Anchor: In the third of our three-part special on the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics, we take a look at North Korea’s Olympic history. While it remains to be seen if any North Korean athletes will compete in the upcoming winter games, our Park Jong-hong fills us in on the North’s previous achievements. Report: With the countdown to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea well and truly under way, attention is being drawn to the North’s potential participation and past accomplishments. It was back in 1964 that North Korea first sent its athletes to the winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. A small delegation of 17 athletes and 22 executives took part. Speed skater Han Pil-hwa won the silver medal in the three-thousand meter event and added a bronze in the one-thousand-500 meter race. However, the two decades since saw North Korea fail to achieve the same success. Despite taking part in the games in Sapporo in 1972, in Sarajevo in 1984 and in Calgary in 1988, the North failed to capture any medals. Then in 1992 at the Albertville games in France, Hwang Ok-sil took home the bronze in the five-hundred meter short track speed skating event, which became the last winter Olympics medal for North Korea until the present day. As for South Korea, it was also during the 1992 games that it won its first-ever winter Olympics medal. Speed skater Kim Yoon-man made the country proud by winning the silver medal in the five-hundred meter event. While North Korea got a head start in the medal tally at the winter games, its performance seems to have fizzled out from the 1990s. Experts say the reason lies in the North’s failure to boost its infrastructure for winter sports. It is a lot more costly to promote winter sports than summer categories and as North Korea had been going through tough economic times, it couldn’t afford to invest in building ski slopes or buy new equipment. Most or any investment had been made before the 1990s. However, experts do note the optimal climate in North Korea such as cold weather, heavy snowfall and rugged mountain terrains that are the factors to promote winter sports. In hopes to rekindle its potential in winter sports North Korea opened its latest ski resort in Masikryong in 2014. Whether or not North Korean athletes will compete at the upcoming PyeongChang Games in a bid to add to their medal tally remains to be seen. Park Jong-hong, KBS World Radio News.; 2017-10-04
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[PyeongChang Olympics 2] First and Last Medals will be in Cross Country: Anchor: In the second of a three-part special on the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Park Jong-hong tells us about the coveted medals that will be awarded throughout the games. Both the first and last medals given out will be at the cross country event. Report: A total of 102 gold medals are up for grabs at the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The snow competition category will be giving away 70 gold medals while the ice rink category will be awarding 32. This is based on a detailed schedule recently announced by the Winter Olympics and Paralympics Organizing Committees following close consultations with the International Olympic Committee, seven international federations and the official domestic broadcaster OBS. It just so happens that the first and last gold medals will be awarded at the cross-country skiing event dubbed the ‘marathon on snow.’ The first medal will be awarded for the women’s 15 kilometer skiathlon that is set to kick off at 4:15 p.m. on February tenth and the last medal will be awarded in the same women’s event, but the 30 kilometer discipline on February 25th. The coveted medals themselves have the Olympic rings inscribed on the front of the medal while the PyeongChang games’ emblem and the individual sporting event are on the back. The side of the medal has the words “PyeongChang Olympics two-thousand-eighteen” written in Hangeul in a three-dimensional effect and the ribbon that will be tied to the medal is made of fine gauze used in making traditional hanbok. One of the key highlights, the figure skating event, will start off with the team competition on February ninth. The gold medalists in five major events including team, men and women’s singles, will be determined until February 23rd. On February 25th, the closing day, the figure skating gala will bring the global sporting event to a memorable close. The organizing committee said the schedule was mapped out considering the weather data and the popularity of the respective events. Park Jong-hong KBS World Radio News.; 2017-10-03
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[PyeongChang Olympics 1] Soccer Legends and Olympic Stars to Carry the Torch: Anchor: The beginning of any Olympics is always signaled with the torch relay and the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Games will be no different. In the first of a special three-part series, our Park Jong-hong reveals some of the lineup of those taking part in the prestigious torch relay. Report: The Olympic flame for the Pyeongchang games will travel across 17 cities from Jeju island in the south to Gangwon Province in the north. Seven-thousand-500 people will carry the torch from November first when it arrives at Incheon Airport from Greece until it is lit at the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium on February ninth. Among the celebrities and average citizens who will carry the torch, the Korean soccer legends Cha Bum-keun and Cha Doo-ri stand out. The father and son duo are well known as the former Korean national team’s head coach and current coach. Also on the list of torchbearers are Olympic fencing gold medalist Park Sang-young and veteran marathoner Lee Bong-joo. Official Olympic partner Coca-Cola announced a list of torchbearers dubbed the Dream Mentors last week, adding that they will take part with a group of teenagers. National soccer hero Cha Bum-keun said he is genuinely happy to be taking part in the relay for the country’s first-ever winter Olympics and expressed hope that the occasion will be inspirational to young children. Marathoner Lee Bong-joo said taking part as a torchbearer in the 1988 Seoul Olympics as a high school student motivated him to pursue his dream to be a marathoner and wished that the teens taking part will also harness the occasion to go after their dreams. Park Jong-hong KBS World Radio News.; 2017-10-02
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S. Korea Welcomes N. Koreans' Qualification for PyeongChang Olympics: South Korea's presidential office has welcomed the qualification of North Korean figure skaters for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics next year. A senior official at the presidential office said on Sunday that Seoul welcomes North Korea securing the opportunity to take part in the PyeongChang Olympics, and expressed hope that more North Korean athletes will have a chance to join the event. Another Cheong Wa Dae official said that the final decision regarding the North's Olympic participation rests with the North Korean Olympic committee, stressing that it's important to quietly wait and watch the situation to see if the North decides to join the games voluntarily. The figure staking duo, Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik, secured a spot for the games during a competition at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany on Friday.; 2017-10-01
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N. Korean Figure Skating Pair Qualifies for PyeongChang 2018: North Korean figure skating pair Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik have qualified for South Korea's Winter Olympics next year. Ryom and Kim finished sixth among 16 teams with a career best 180-point-09 points overall at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany, on Friday. This was the last Olympic qualifying competition, and there were five remaining tickets for the 2018 PyeongChang winter games. North Korea secured its Olympic berth as it ranked third among eleven countries excluding the nations which already earned their spots. The final decision regarding the duo's Olympic participation rests with the North Korean Olympic committee.; 2017-10-01
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Survey: Two Thirds of S. Koreans Expect Successful PyeongChang Olympics: A new nationwide survey shows that two thirds of South Koreans are expecting the country will successfully host the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. The survey released on Friday by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism said only seven-point-four percent expected a not-so-successful hosting of the Winter Games. Despite heightened public interest in the country’s first Winter Olympics, only seven-point-one percent of the surveyed said they will go to the event venues to watch competitions, while 81-point-seven percent said they will watch them on TV. Asked which event of the 17-day sporting festivity they want to watch most from the stadiums, 38 percent picked the opening ceremony, followed by short-track speed skating at 32 percent, speed skating at 16-point-seven percent and figure skating at 15-point-two percent.; 2017-09-29
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