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193441
Thu, 07/07/2011 - 09:44
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https://oananews.org//node/193441
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Koreans celebrate hosting 2018 Winter Olympics
(LEAD) PYEONGCHANG, South Korea, July 7 (Yonhap) -- Bleary-eyed, but jubilant South Koreans celebrated on Thursday the nation's hosting of the 2018 Winter Olympics, with promises to make the games a success.
People across South Korea were glued to their television sets and Internet broadcasts around midnight, watching the International Olympic Committee announce that the nation's alpine town of PyeongChang would be the host of the 2018 games.
The victory is particularly emotional for residents of PyeongChang as it followed the city's two consecutive heart-breaking failures to host the Winter Olympics.
Some 7,000 people, who were packed into a ski resort in PyeongChang, danced, burst into tears and hugged each other as the IOC delegates overwhelmingly voted for the city.
"The success of PyeongChang's bid was the result of all people's aspirations to host the Winter Olympics over the past 11 years," said Kim Seung-hwan, head of an online community supporting the bid.
"It's time to gather the power of all people again to make the games successful," Kim said.
"I am so happy because our dream came true at last," said teary housewife Lee Yong-soon, 35, in PyeongChang.
Major theme parks and restaurants in PyeongChang and Gangwon province offered free or discount tickets on Thursday to celebrate the nation's victory.
PyeongChang's Alpensia resort, which will be the main competition site for the 2018 games, is also preparing for various events, company officials said.
PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, had narrowly lost two earlier bids, first to Vancouver of Canada for the 2010 games and then to Sochi of Russia for the 2014 competition.
This year, PyeongChang ran its campaign under the slogan "New Horizons," representing an opportunity to promote and develop winter sports in the relatively new and yet lucrative market of Asia.
Asia has hosted only two of the 21 winter games so far, and they were both in Japan -- Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998.
In PyeongChang, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik held a meeting with the leader of the ruling Grand National Party, Hong Joon-pyo, and discussed follow-up measures to support the 2018 games.
"There are many things to do to successfully host the games, including expansions of infrastructure and stadiums," Kim told reporters. "We will swiftly form an organizing committee and modify relevant laws."
Hong called PyeongChang's victory "historic" as it put South Korea on course to stage the world's three biggest sporting events.
"With PyeongChang's successful bid, our country became an advanced nation in sports by hosting the Summer Olympics, World Cup and Winter Olympics," Hong said. South Korea held its first and only Summer Olympics in 1988 in Seoul, and co-hosted the 2002 World Cup with Japan.
In Seoul, the opposition parties pledged bipartisan support to make the 2018 games a success.
Rep. Lee Yong-seop, a spokesman for the main opposition Democratic Party, said, "We will spare no efforts for the success of the Winter Olympics."
Religious leaders also joined the festive mood.
In a statement, the nation's largest Buddhist sect, Jogye Order, said, "Our people's preparations for hosting the Winter Olympics moved people around the world and the international community positively rated the efforts, resulting in the hosting of the 2018 games."
Security analysts said PyeongChang's winning bid is expected to help bring peace to the Korean Peninsula.
Security would be a major concern for South Korea, which has been in a state of conflict with communist North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an uneasy cease-fire, not a peace treaty. The U.S. keeps some 28,500 troops in the South as a deterrent against the North.
Inter-Korean relations plunged to their lowest level in years following the North's two deadly military attacks on the South last year.
Yoon Duk-min, a professor at the state-run Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, said, "Hosting a global sports event, like the Seoul Olympics or the 2002 World Cup, will positively affect the situation on the Korean Peninsula."
PyeongChang's winning bid "is expected to make a contribution on the stabilization of the Korean Peninsula with it drawing much attention from the world," Yoon said.
Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul, expected the 2018 games to pave the way for the two Koreas to ease tensions.
"I think the Winter Olympics would serve as an ideal vehicle to reopen an inter-Korean dialogue and help bring peace on the Korean Peninsula," Kim said by telephone.
People across South Korea were glued to their television sets and Internet broadcasts around midnight, watching the International Olympic Committee announce that the nation's alpine town of PyeongChang would be the host of the 2018 games.
The victory is particularly emotional for residents of PyeongChang as it followed the city's two consecutive heart-breaking failures to host the Winter Olympics.
Some 7,000 people, who were packed into a ski resort in PyeongChang, danced, burst into tears and hugged each other as the IOC delegates overwhelmingly voted for the city.
"The success of PyeongChang's bid was the result of all people's aspirations to host the Winter Olympics over the past 11 years," said Kim Seung-hwan, head of an online community supporting the bid.
"It's time to gather the power of all people again to make the games successful," Kim said.
"I am so happy because our dream came true at last," said teary housewife Lee Yong-soon, 35, in PyeongChang.
Major theme parks and restaurants in PyeongChang and Gangwon province offered free or discount tickets on Thursday to celebrate the nation's victory.
PyeongChang's Alpensia resort, which will be the main competition site for the 2018 games, is also preparing for various events, company officials said.
PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, had narrowly lost two earlier bids, first to Vancouver of Canada for the 2010 games and then to Sochi of Russia for the 2014 competition.
This year, PyeongChang ran its campaign under the slogan "New Horizons," representing an opportunity to promote and develop winter sports in the relatively new and yet lucrative market of Asia.
Asia has hosted only two of the 21 winter games so far, and they were both in Japan -- Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998.
In PyeongChang, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik held a meeting with the leader of the ruling Grand National Party, Hong Joon-pyo, and discussed follow-up measures to support the 2018 games.
"There are many things to do to successfully host the games, including expansions of infrastructure and stadiums," Kim told reporters. "We will swiftly form an organizing committee and modify relevant laws."
Hong called PyeongChang's victory "historic" as it put South Korea on course to stage the world's three biggest sporting events.
"With PyeongChang's successful bid, our country became an advanced nation in sports by hosting the Summer Olympics, World Cup and Winter Olympics," Hong said. South Korea held its first and only Summer Olympics in 1988 in Seoul, and co-hosted the 2002 World Cup with Japan.
In Seoul, the opposition parties pledged bipartisan support to make the 2018 games a success.
Rep. Lee Yong-seop, a spokesman for the main opposition Democratic Party, said, "We will spare no efforts for the success of the Winter Olympics."
Religious leaders also joined the festive mood.
In a statement, the nation's largest Buddhist sect, Jogye Order, said, "Our people's preparations for hosting the Winter Olympics moved people around the world and the international community positively rated the efforts, resulting in the hosting of the 2018 games."
Security analysts said PyeongChang's winning bid is expected to help bring peace to the Korean Peninsula.
Security would be a major concern for South Korea, which has been in a state of conflict with communist North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an uneasy cease-fire, not a peace treaty. The U.S. keeps some 28,500 troops in the South as a deterrent against the North.
Inter-Korean relations plunged to their lowest level in years following the North's two deadly military attacks on the South last year.
Yoon Duk-min, a professor at the state-run Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, said, "Hosting a global sports event, like the Seoul Olympics or the 2002 World Cup, will positively affect the situation on the Korean Peninsula."
PyeongChang's winning bid "is expected to make a contribution on the stabilization of the Korean Peninsula with it drawing much attention from the world," Yoon said.
Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul, expected the 2018 games to pave the way for the two Koreas to ease tensions.
"I think the Winter Olympics would serve as an ideal vehicle to reopen an inter-Korean dialogue and help bring peace on the Korean Peninsula," Kim said by telephone.
