With only 30 days left until the opening of Gwangju Summer Universiade 2015, the local lighting of the torch took place at the Jangbuljae mountain pass at Mudeungsan National Park on June 2.

This torch will join the flame lit at the Sorbonne University in Paris on May 18. Together, the co-joined flame will be placed in a lantern and will tour key locations around Gwangju, promoting the games' themes of the environment, peace, IT and the arts.

Students from Gwangju Arts High School dress as seven heavenly maidens before the torch for the Gwangju Summer Universiade Games is ignited at the Jangbuljae mountain pass at Mudeungsan National Park.

Students from Gwangju Arts High School light the torch for the Gwangju Summer Universiade Games at the Jangbuljae mountain pass at Mudeungsan National Park.

Gwangju Universiade Organizing Committee President Yoon Jang-hyun holds up the lit torch for the Gwangju Summer Universiade Games at the Jangbuljae mountain pass at Mudeungsan National Park.

Gwangju Universiade Organizing Committee President Yoon Jang-hyun (right) and Vice President Kim Eung-sik hold up torches for the Gwangju Summer Universiade Games at the Jangbuljae mountain pass at Mudeungsan National Park after lighting the joint flame.

Co-joining flames lit both locally and internationally, participants pose for a photo after lighting the joint flame for the Gwangju Summer Universiade Games at the Jangbuljae mountain pass at Mudeungsan National Park.

The torch bearers will pass though the Seongsan Ilchulbong on Jeju Island, the Juknokwon’s trail of metasequoias at Damyang, the Andong Hahoe Folk Village, the Jeonju Hanok Village and join in with local festivities across the regions.

Starting at the lighting ceremony, the torch will now travel 3,700 kilometers across Korea. The torch will pass through 17 cities and provinces, including Jeju Island, Incheon, Seoul, Daejeon and Busan. At 66 designated locations the flame will be held by some 3,150 bearers, writing across the nation the Chinese character 光 (빛 광, gwang), meaning, "light across the country." The flame will finally arrive at the main stadium of the Gwangju Universiade Games for the opening ceremony on July 3.

By Paik Hyun
Photos: 2015 Gwangju Summer Universiade Organizing Committee
Korea.net Staff Writer
cathy@korea.kr