[Photo News] K-pop infuses harmony into traditional music on gala exhibition

Hours head of the closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympics, a figure skating exhibition gala was held at the Gangneung Ice Arena on Sunday, featuring Korean traditional music and K-pop tunes. Korean skaters including Min Yu-ra, Alexandre Gamelin, Cha Jun-hwan, Choi Da-bin, Kim Kyu-eun and Alex Kam participated in the gala show’s opening performances and Intermissions, while Japan’s “Figure Prince” Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno were also included in the lineup. Yuzuru HanyuPerfoming without the

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] Bobsleigh coach says making athletes comfortable led to 4-man competition silver

South Korea's bobsleigh and skeleton team head coach Lee Yong said Sunday making his athletes feel comfortable led to a historic silver medal in the four-man bobsleigh competition at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.The team of Won Yun-jong, Seo Young-woo, Jun Jung-lin and Kim Dong-hyun shared silver with a German team piloted by Nico Walther when they tied for second at 3 minutes 16.38 seconds after four runs at Olympic Sliding Centre in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province.South Korea previously faile

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] Moon congratulates S. Korean Olympic medalists

President Moon Jae-in sent messages to South Korean Olympic medalists on Sunday to personally congratulate them on their recent feats at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said.In a congratulatory message to Lee Sang-ho, the South Korean snowboarder who won silver in the men's parallel giant slalom on Saturday, Moon said Lee had written a new chapter in the country's history."Thanks to Lee, our snow sports wrote new history," the president said, calling L

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] S. Korea adds two silver medals on final day

Host South Korea saw plenty of silver linings on the final day of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Sunday, as its women's curling team and men's four-man bobsleigh team each captured a silver medal.Those were the final two medals for South Korea at PyeongChang 2018, whose closing ceremony is scheduled for later Sunday.At Gangneung Curling Centre in Gangneung, South Korea lost to Sweden 8-3 in the women's curling gold medal game, ending its remarkable winning streak at eight games.South Korea s

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] S. Korea's 4-man bobsleigh team goes from underdog to silver medal winner

Before the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, no one would have thought that South Korea's four-man bobsleigh team would win a medal.The South Korean team, piloted by Won Yun-jong, was ranked only 50th in the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation rankings. With its silver medal run at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the team of Won, Seo Young-woo, Jun Jung-lin and Kim Dong-hyun made history, becoming the first Asian bobsledders to stand on the Olympic podium.  From left: Won Yun-jong, Seo Y

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] S. Korean bobsleigh duo wash off sad memory with silver in 4-man competition

When Won Yun-jong and Seo Young-woo finished the two-man bobsleigh competition at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in sixth place on Monday, they weren't happy. The duo, world No. 1 in the 2015-16 season, were considered one of the medal hopefuls for South Korea with their intensive training at Olympic Sliding Centre in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province. But no podium finish -- mainly due to a shocking 11th finish from their first run -- gave them regret and disappointment. The two didn't cry in fron

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] South Korea wins silver in 4-man bobsleigh

South Korea's four-man bobsleigh team won a silver medal at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games on Sunday. The team of Won Yun-jong, Seo Young-woo, Kim Dong-hyun and Jun Jung-lin posted a combined time of 3 minutes, 16.38 seconds after their four heats at Olympic Sliding Centre in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, and tied for second place with a German team led by Nico Walther. South Korea is now the first Asian nation to claim an Olympic medal in a bobsleigh event. Earlier, South Korea finished

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] Temperature to drop below zero at Olympic closing ceremony

The temperature at the closing ceremony for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games is expected be just as cold as during the opening ceremony 17 days ago. The event is slated to take place from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday at the PyeongChang Olympic Plaza. A slightly overcast sky is forecast, with temperatures of minus 4 to minus 2 degrees Celsius, and felt temperatures of minus 9 to minus 5 C. Wind velocity is expected to be between 2 and 5 meters per second.  (Yonhap)The opening ceremony on Feb. 9 s

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] Women's curling team rises from curiosity to silver medalists

It was a rise as improbable as any at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics -- the South Korean women's curling team coming out of blue and winning silver.When the eighth-ranked team defeated world No. 1 Canada 8-6 in its first round robin session on Feb. 15, hardly anyone made much of it. Sure, Canada had run the table to win the 2017 world championship, but nobody could keep winning forever and a loss here and there would be par for the course at the Olympics.Of course, South Korea lost its very nex

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] Korea's 'garlic girls' claim Olympic silver in curling

South Korea captured the silver medal in women's curling on the final day of the PyeongChang Winter Games on Sunday, its first ever Olympic medal in the sport. South Korea's women's curling team clinches Olympic silver on Feb. 25. The team is also known as "Team Kim" and "Garlic Girls" for all four players' last names being Kim, and their hometown Uiseong County's famous agricultural produce of garlic. (Yonhap)Led by skip Kim Eun-jung, the South Korean women's team saw its improbable Cinderella

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] Korean athletes to keep an eye out for Beijing 2022

South Korea saw new stars born at its first Winter Games at home, and for some of them, Beijing 2022 could be their opportunity to shine. Young athletes have already etched their names into the history books at the PyeongChang games, and still there are prospects who will aim to deliver better results in the future. In figure skating, Cha Jun-hwan and Choi Da-bin produced promising results in their first ever Winter Olympics.Cha, 16, broke his personal high scores both in the short and free prog

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] No deficit expected from PyeongChang Winter Olympics: top organizer

With the PyeongChang Winter Olympics nearing its grand finale on Sunday, the top organizer said the country's first Winter Games were financially successful, breaking the conception that major international competitions normally end with high levels of debt."As the cashflow of the 2018 Winter Games is healthy, there's no reason to post a deficit," Lee Hee-beom, the head of PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games (POCOG), told Yonhap News Agency."While 14 trillion won (

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] PyeongChang leaves landmark peace legacy through Koreas' rapprochement

As athletes end their hard-fought battles for medals at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the first Winter Games in South Korea will leave behind one of the most dramatic and symbolic peace legacies of any modern Olympics, thanks to the reconciliation of the two Koreas in sports -- a development that was unimaginable just a few months ago.For the first time in an Olympic Games hosted by the South, some 200 delegates of the two Koreas marched together under a unified flag and in matching uniforms

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] Host S. Korea falls short of gold medal target

Host South Korea fell short of its gold medal target at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which will draw to conclusion on Sunday after two-plus weeks of competition for 102 gold medals.With South Korea in the women's curling final scheduled and the four-man bobsleigh team in contention later Sunday, the host country was sitting at five gold, six silver and four bronze medals, good for a tie for seventh place in the standings.South Korea sent its largest Winter Olympics delegation ever, with 144

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] PyeongChang Winter Olympics to close after record-setting run

The 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games will draw to a conclusion on Sunday after a record-setting run over the past two-plus weeks.Since the opening ceremony on Feb. 9, PyeongChang, 180 kilometers east of Seoul, along with the sub-host cities of Gangneung and Jeongseon, has hosted 2,920 athletes from 92 countries -- both records for Winter Olympics. They vied for 102 gold medals, also a record for the quadrennial competition.The last four gold medals will be won on Sunday -- in women's curlin

Feb. 25, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] S. Korea wins gold, silver in mass start skating

Veteran South Korean skater Lee Seung-hoon became the inaugural Olympic champion in men's mass start speed skating, at the PyeongChang Winter Games on Saturday.He made a last-minute spurt to cross the finish line first in the men's mass start final held in the Gangneung Oval. Belgium's Bart Swings won silver and the Netherlands' Koen Verweij won bronze.Lee Seung-hoon reacts after winning the gold in the men's mass start skating on Saturday. (Yonhap)Lee, the world No. 1 in the discipline, earned

Feb. 24, 2018

[Newsmaker] Lee Sang-ho: 1st Asian man to win medal in alpine snowboarding

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- South Korean alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho, who became the first Asian man to win an Olympic medal in an alpine snowboarding event with his silver medal run, is a native of Jeongseon, Gangwon Province, where Olympic alpine skiing speed events were being staged.He first started snowboarding at a sledding slope that was previously a cabbage patch. This gave him the nickname “Napa Cabbage Boy” after he established himself in the snowboarding scene. Lee Sang-ho (Yonhap)L

Feb. 24, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] South Korean alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho wins silver in men’s parallel giant slalom

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- South Korean alpine snowboarding ace Lee Sang-ho won the silver medal in the men’s parallel giant slalom at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Saturday.Lee lost to Nevin Galmarini of Switzerland by 0.43 second in the gold medal contest and claimed the silver medal at Phoenix Snow Park in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province. He is now the first Asian man to make a podium finish at an Olympic alpine snowboarding event and the first South Korean to claim a Winter Games medal f

Feb. 24, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] Closing ceremony to include 8-minute preview of Beijing 2022

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- The closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will include a preview of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, organizers said Saturday.Zhang Yimou, the director of the Beijing 2022 handover performance, said he has planned an eight-minute show for the closing ceremony to be held at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium on Sunday. (Yonhap)The Chinese director also took charge of the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics."We plan to delive

Feb. 24, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] South Korean women fail to advance to alpine snowboarding finals

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- Two South Korean alpine snowboarders failed to advance to the women's parallel giant slalom finals at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Saturday. Jeong Hae-rim and Shin Da-hae both failed to reach the elimination round open to the top 16 contestants. Jeong finished 20th with a combined time of 1 minute, 34.11 seconds after two runs, while Shin ended up 25th among 29 competitors with 1:36.04.  Jung Hae-rim (Yonhap)In the qualification round, competitors each take two

Feb. 24, 2018