“The Olympic Games have, literally, gotten off to a start.”

With the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games barely more than one year away, a press conference was held on Jan. 19 to brief foreign correspondents stationed in Korea on how the preparations are going for the upcoming sporting festival.

“The PyeongChang Games have completed the planning stage and have entered the implementation stage,” said PyeongChang Organizing Committee President Lee Hee-beom.

Journalists in attendance were told about the remaining test events, which started with the FIS Snowboard Big Air World Cup in November 2016 and which will continue until April, and were updated about a series of sideline events, such as the 2017 G-1 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Festival that marks one year until the games, the World Broadcasters Meetings (WBMs), the IOC Executive Board meetings and the torch relay.

Regarding construction progress on the sporting venues and other facilities, Lee said, “We have almost reached 99 percent completion. The venue for the opening ceremony will be complete in late August this year, while the Athletes’ Village is in its finishing stages.”

He outlined transportation infrastructure that has been designed to help athletes and visitors from both home and abroad travel with ease to Pyeongchang, Gangneung and Jeongseon in the host province of Gangwon-do.

“In November last year, the second Yeongdong Expressway, which spans 56.96 kilometers, linking Gwangju in Gyeonggi-do Province and Wonju in Gangwon-do Province, opened and the travel time has now been cut by one hour, from three hours to two hours,” Lee said. “A new high-speed KTX train from Seoul to Gangneung is slated to be complete in the second half of this year. It will bring all Olympic venues to within 70 or so minutes. After the games start, a KTX will run directly from Incheon International Airport straight to Pyeongchang and Gangneung. That service will cut travel time to most venues to less than 100 minutes.”



Organizers say that the PyeongChang Games will be a grand sporting festival where people from all around the world will be able to enjoy not only sports, but also many cultural and traditional aspects of Korea. Lee said, “We will go all out to make it an Olympics that embraces many things about our traditions and which promotes tourism in Gangwon-do Province and across the nation as a whole. We will make sure that all visitors feel part of the world’s sporting festival, and that they feel as if Korea is a place worth coming to and to which they'd like to come again."

He said that the organizing committee has been focusing on the development of tourist programs at nearby locations, as well as restaurants that specialize in traditional and local dishes.

Finally, Lee said that the PyeongChang Games would be an improved version of the Olympics with the help of some of the world’s best technologies, like information technology (IT) and virtual reality (VR). “Our goal is to host an Olympic Games that meets all five elements that we pursue: economy, culture, peace, the environment and IT,” said Lee as he wrapped up the press conference.

By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Jeon Han, Korea.net Photographer
jiae5853@korea.kr