South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon believes Pyeongchang 2018 will be a success ©Getty Images

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon has claimed Pyeongchang 2018 will be a success despite the ongoing tensions with North Korea.

Lee is in Greece to attend the Pyeongchang 2018 Torch lighting ceremony in Olympia tomorrow and for meetings with Greek President Prokopios Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. 

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and other Government colleagues are delivering messages promising the safety of the country on an almost daily basis in an attempt to downplay safety concerns.

According to Yonhap, Lee pointed out that the Seoul 1988 Games were held just months after North Korea's bombing of a Korean Air flight that killed all 115 people aboard.

"The Pyeongchang Olympics will be a success," he said, according to Yonhap.

"The Olympics will be a good opportunity for the North Korean leader to send a message that what we want is not anxiety but we also want peace.

"He may think whatever he wants to think, but if I were him, I would think that way.

"There have been a few positive signs [regarding the North's participation], but we're not yet at the point where we can disclose them."

A series of missile tests by North Korea have raised safety concerns in the area ©Getty Images
A series of missile tests by North Korea have raised safety concerns in the area ©Getty Images

Tensions have continued to rise in the region following a series of missile tests by North Korea in recent months.

Matters have been escalated further by the increasingly threatening rhetoric between United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

French Sports Minister Laura Flessel has warned that if the crisis deepened and "our security cannot be assured, the French Olympics team will stay at home".

Alfons Hörmann, the President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, also claimed he would understand if his country's athletes did not want to compete because of safety concerns.

Other sports officials have downplayed concerns and publicly declared that they have no safety worries and fully intend to participate.

This includes the International Olympic Committee.

They also claim to be "closely monitoring" the situation on the Korean Peninsula and that they have been in "close contact" with Governments and the United Nations over recent months.

The Winter Olympics are due to take place in Pyeongchang from February 9 to 25, with the Paralympics following from March 9 to 18.

Pyeongchang 2018 President Lee Hee-beom confirmed today that all venues had now been completed.