By Xu Aiying and Lee Hana

Live drone shows during the Opening and Closing ceremonies for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics were picked as the best surprises of this year's Games, according to a survey conducted by the Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI).

The CICI surveyed a total of 451 people -- 227 Koreans and 224 non-Koreans -- between March 20 and 28, asking respondents a series of questions about the PyeongChang Winter Games.

The results, announced on March 29, showed that over 89.73 percent of non-Korean and 74.89 percent of Korean respondents considered the live drone shows to be the highlight of this year's Olympics, one that wowed viewers all around the world.

During the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 9, audiences were treated to a performance by 1,218 drones working in concert to form the Olympic rings in the air, high above Pyeongchang. This drone light show set a Guinness World Record for the "most unmanned aerial vehicles airborne simultaneously."

The presence of VIPs, such as Ivanka Trump, daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Kim Yo-jong, chairman of the Worker's Party of North Korea, was ranked second, with 51.79 percent and 52.86 percent of non-Korean and Korean votes, respectively.

The joint march into the Opening Ceremony of the North and South Korean teams and the united inter-Korean women's ice hockey team came in third place, with 31.7 percent of non-Korean and 30.4 percent of Korean respondents' votes.

With regard to some of the factors that helped to elevate Korea's image during the Olympics, 89.73 percent of non-Koreans and 74.89 percent of Korean chose the Opening and Closing ceremonies that merged tradition with cutting-edge technology, as the best events of the Games.

The KTX high-speed trains that helped improve accessibility came in second place, while Korea's performance in events other than those on the ice was ranked third.

On the flip side, both non-Koreans and Koreans alike said that the lack of things to do near the Olympic stadiums was the biggest shortcoming. Both groups said that increasing the breadth and depth of nightlife and other activities was something that Korea should try to improve after the PyeongChang Games.

xuaiy@korea.kr