National Efforts to Hold the 2010 Winter Olympics

The government will take up an active attitude in attracting the right to hold the 2010 winter Olympic games.

In a briefing at the Aug. 1st State Council meeting, Kim seong-jae, Minister of Culture and Tourism, said that if Pyeongchang, Gangwon province was chosen as a candidate for the winter Olympics in the Aug. 29th executive committee meeting of the International Olympics Committee (IOC), the Ministry would set up a “government support committee,” chaired by the Prime Minister, and a “national Winter Olympic Games Bid Committee,” comprised of people of all walks of life, in order to wage campaigns for the successful bid.

Minister Kim said that based on the principle that Winter Olympic games are held equally by each continent, this time Asia is highly likely to succeed in the bid.

This time, 8 cities including Pyeongchang in Korea, Harbin in China, Vancouver in Canada, Berne in Switzerland, and Salzburg in Austria applied for the host of the Winter Games. The executive committee will choose 3-4 candidates among those 8 cities, and finally decide the host city in the general assembly in July 2003.

Sang-Ho Kim hyangsan@donga.com