Pyeongchang impresses IOC inspectors on 3rd day

It looks as if Korea is already hosting the Winter Olympics.

Areas around the city of Gangneung, Gangwon Province, were packed with crowds chanting “Pyeongchang” in unison Friday wherever the International Olympic Committee inspection team visited. Looking at the cheering crowds in the bus, the team smiled an apparent sign of satisfaction.

The team’s assessment in selecting the venue for the 2018 Winter Olympics is nearing its close. The Pyeongchang bidding committee said, “The mood now is quite different from four years ago. The inspection team showed a positive response when seeing fully completed competition facilities that had been displayed solely as artists’ renditions four years ago.”

The IOC inspectors watched presentations in the morning by Pyeongchang on politics, economy and finance, marketing, law and customs clearance on the third day of its assessment before conducting onsite inspections at sports facilities in and around Gangneung in the afternoon.

The team will listen to presentations on safety, medical services, media and technology and hold a news conference to conclude its probe Saturday.

Seoul National University professor Park Won-ho, who served as presenter on politics, economy and the environment, said, “Pyeongchang is benefiting from the central government’s systematic cooperation and overwhelming support from Gangwon Province residents.”

Noting the robust expansion of the middle class in Asia year by year, he said Asia needs to host the Winter Olympics again.

On safety fears amid the inter-Korean standoff, Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choung Byoung-gug said, “South Korea has co-existed with North Korea over the past 60 years, and the South has hosted a string of international events, including the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 2002 World Cup Korea-Japan.”

Hallym University professor Ahn Dong-gyu, the presenter for finance, said that if Pyeongchang wins the hosting right, South Korea will invest 1.53 billion U.S. dollars and provide free public services including medical care and customs clearance.

Yonsei University professor Jeong Yeong-cheol said Korea will enact a special law on the Olympics to extend support for a Pyeongchang event.

Tae Eung-ryeol, vice president of Korea Housing Finance Corp., said the government will provide assistance through speedy processing of immigration arrivals and departures and offer tax breaks for equipment shipped in for the Olympics.

The Gangneung region was in a festive mood. More than 1,000 people gathered on roadsides to Youngdong University, the site of a second ice hockey rink, some 3,000 went to urban areas in Solol district, and more than 500 packed the beach of Gyeongpodae to welcome the visiting IOC inspectors.

A celebrative event was also convened to fly “2018 wish kites” over the sky, something which impressed members of the inspection team.

beetlez@donga.com