Under the scheme, Pyeongchang promised to bring the best entertainment and cultural opportunities to the region if it beats its rivals Annecy and Munich and is awarded the Games by the IOC at its Session in Durban on July 6.

They have already signed agreements with 16 companies and 80 brands to create a festival here that, they claim, the whole world can enjoy in 2018.

Many of Korea's most exciting entertainment and hospitality amenities, such as restaurants, shops, cultural attractions, and museums established in Pyeongchang for the duration of the Winter Games.

The initiative is clearly aimed at dispelling fears that Pyeongchang will have little to offer foreign visitors during the Olympics and Paralympcis beyond sport. 

Participating brands are set to include many of Seoul's award-winning restaurants and the world class culinary services of international hotels such as the Grand Hyatt, JW Marriot and Hilton; Korea's prestigious hotels like Lotte Hotel and The Shilla; and some of the country's most popular cafés and bistros.

Lotte Duty Free, Korea's first and the world's fifth largest duty free shop also agreed to join the initiative.

Korean cultural performances such as Nanta, a play that has been running for 14 years, and Korea's top performing arts companies, Sejong Center for Performing Arts and Seoul Arts Center, will also participate in the programme.

The initiative is one of Pyeongchang's key selling points, although its biggest asset remains the compactness of its bid.

Kang Kwang-bae, a bobsledder, skeleton racer, and luger who carried South Korea's flag at the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver last year, was among those to address the IOC Commission, which is headed by Sweden's Gunilla Lindberg, today.

"We stressed the fact that if we host the Winter Olympics, it will be one of the most compact ones in history," Kang said, pointing out that all Olympic venues will be accessible within 30 minutes of each other.

Kang, who is the vice-president of international affairs at the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, believes his presentation went well.

"I think I made the point quite persuasively.

"I believe competitions and venues should be central to the Olympics.

"From athletes' perspective, a short travel time to venues and easy access to competition and practice venues would make it an athlete-centered Games.

"It would allow them to compete in peak conditions. Our primary focus is on athletes' comfort, convenience and safety."



This week has been designed to demonstrate to the IOC that the whole country is behind the campaign to bring the Games here, the third consecutive time that Pyeongchang have bid having narrowly failed to be awarded the 2010 Games, which went to Vancouver, and 2014, which were won by Sochi.

In a rare show of harmony, South Korea's rival parties today also today promised non-partisan cooperation for Pyeongchang's bid.

The main opposition Democratic Party even held a party leadership meeting at the ski restort, about 180 kilometers east of Seoul.

In the meeting also attended by members of the party's special committee formed to support the Olympics bid, Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of the party, expressed hope that the bid will become successful so that Gangwon Province can develop into an international winter sports venue.

He called for the Government's extra support to increase Pyeongchang's chances of wining the bid by designating it and its adjacent areas as a special tourism enclave eligible for tax benefits and government subsidies.

A 113-kilometre railway linking Wonju with Gangneung, which will host the ice events if Pyeongchang's bid is succesful, must be built earlier than scheduled in 2020 to improve accessibility to the Gangwon region before the 2018 Olympics, he said.

Park Jie-won, the party's floor leader, also promised nonpartisan support "to make the dreams of the Gangwon residents come true."

Last Friday, Ahn Sang-soo, chairman of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP), visited Pyeongchang to check on preparations for the Olympics bid and was followed yesterday by the country's President Lee Myung-bak, who met the Commission.

During the visit, he pledged his party's full efforts to support Pyeongchang's bid, a point underlined today by Byong Gug Choung, South Korea's Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism. 

"The Pyeongchang Olympics is not the Gangwon Olympics but Korea's Olympics," he said.

"We have already drawn up a blueprint for a bullet train linking Pyeongchang and Incheon International Airport, and it will be accomplished.

"This was the first time that President Lee Myung-bak came here to meet the IOC delegates, which proves the strong will of the Government."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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