Pyeongchang Starts 3rd Bid for Winter Olympics

Pyeongchang County in Korea`s eastern province of Gangwon will go for its third bid to host a Winter Olympics.

The Korea Olympic Committee held an interim general assembly at Taeneung Ice Rink in Seoul, and approved the bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics in a 30-13 secret ballot vote. Government approval is required, but is expected to come.

Pyeongchang lost next year`s Winter Games to Vancouver, Canada, and the 2014 event to Sochi, Russia.

Gangwon Province Governor Kim Jin-sun said, “With our past two challenges, we let the world know about unknown Pyeongchang. We will definitely win the bid for 2018.”

The International Olympic Committee will officially select candidate cities for the 2018 Winter Olympics at the Olympic Commission in July next year. It will decide the host city at its session in Durban, South Africa, in July 2011.

Pyeongchang’s competitors for the bid are Munich, Germany and Annecy, France.

beetlez@donga.com