Anchor: The opening ceremony for the PyeongChang Olympics will kick off on Friday. More than 29-hundred athletes from 92 countries are taking part in the world's biggest winter sports event and Team Korea hopes to finish in the top four. The games will run until February 25th.
Our Park Jong-hong has this report.

Report: The spirit of the Winter Games is running high, with the opening ceremony for the PyeongChang Olympics set to begin at 8 p.m. on Friday at the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium.

It's the second Olympic Games that Korea is hosting since the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics 30 years ago and also the third-ever Winter Games held in Asia following the Nagano Games in 1998 and the Sapporo Games in 1972.

For the following 17 days, the world’s athletes will be going all out to win medals to make their countries proud.

Another significant feat for Korea is that it will have hosted not only the summer and winter games but also the World Cup and the World Athletics Championships, which are considered the top four global sports festivals.

Only four other countries have achieved this milestone: France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

What’s also making headlines is the inter-Korean unified team in women’s ice hockey, a first in Olympic history.

The opening ceremony will feature inter-Korean athletes marching into the stadium together under the flag of a unified Korean Peninsula.

Until recently tension had been rising due to North Korea’s missile and nuclear development and so there is hope that the Olympics will represent a thawing of icy relations as well as promote peace in the world.

A total of 102 gold medals are up for grabs in 15 separate categories.

Team Korea aims to garner eight golds, four silvers and eight bronzes to finish in the top four in the overall medal tally.
Park Jong-hong, KBS World Radio News.