PyeongChang Winter Games chief arrives in Rio for promotion

By Yoo Jee-ho RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 1 (Yonhap) -- The head of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, kicking off a campaign to promote South Korea's first Winter Games during the Summer Olympics here. Lee Hee-beom, president of the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG), arrived in Rio via New York and Sao Paulo. The POCOG is scheduled to present its report on Olympic preparations during the 129th IOC Session on Wednesday. As the host of the next Olympics after Rio 2016, PyeongChang will receive the Olympic Flag at the closing ceremony here on Aug. 21. Also during the Rio Games, the POCOG will operate a promotion center named "PyeongChang 2018 House in Rio" on Copacabana Beach, one of the main tourist destinations here. It will also be open during the Sept. 7-18 Paralympics. Speaking to Yonhap News Agency on the phone, Lee said he will have his work cut out for him in the absence of South Korean International Olympic Committee (IOC) members. Lee Kun-hee, Samsung Group chairman and an IOC member since 1996, has been bedridden for more than two years. Moon Dae-sung, former Olympic taekwondo champion elected to the IOC's Athletes Commission in 2008, was recently suspended over plagiarism in his doctoral thesis. Moon's term will end after the Rio Games, and with Lee's long-term health still a question mark, this leaves a major void in South Korean sports diplomacy. "It's a shame that we don't have a Korean IOC member in Rio, where there should be promoting the PyeongChang Winter Olympics," Lee said. "It puts that much more pressure on the POCOG to engage in sports diplomacy without those who can communicate closely with the IOC." Lee said early in the Rio Olympics, he will meet with IOC members, heads of international sports federations and Olympic leaders from participating nations. Then in the latter part of the competition, he will set up meetings with corporate sponsors of the PyeongChang Olympics. On Saturday, Lee will organize a tripartite meeting involving chief organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. With the unprecedented cycle of three consecutive Olympics in the region, Lee has frequently stressed the significance of cooperation among the Northeast Asian neighbors. The three host cities are expected to talk about implementing specific cooperative measures and holding joint conferences on a regular basis. jeeho@yna.co.kr (END)