President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday asked South Korea's top business leaders to actively sponsor the country's first-ever Winter Olympics to be held in 2018 as part of efforts to stage a successful competition.
  

"We urgently need the interest and assistance of the business community for a successful PyeongChang Winter Olympics," Park said in a meeting with about two dozen leaders, including Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., and Chung Eui-son, vice chairman at Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-largest carmaker.
  

She also said the Winter Olympics to be held in the country's eastern alpine city of Pyeongchang will provide a good opportunity for companies to enhance their brand value.

So far, four South Korean companies, including KT, the nation's top fixed-line operator and No. 2 mobile carrier, have pledged to sponsor 254.9 billion won ($229 million) to the PyeongChang organizing committee.
  

The committee said it has been in talks with other local companies to recruit more corporate sponsorship to secure an additional 595 billion won.
  

"They know they have no choice but to sponsor" the Winter Olympics, an official of the PyeongChang organizing committee. He asked not to be identified, citing policy.
  

Some South Koreans take corporate sponsorship of high-profile events for granted in a country where past governments provided special favors to conglomerates, which critics say helped them to grow.
  

Samsung Electronics, the world's top smartphone maker, is one of the worldwide top partners with the International Olympic Committee. Last year, the flagship unit of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest family-controlled conglomerate, extended its partnership with the IOC to the end of 2020.
  

Under the deal, Samsung will sponsor South Korea's PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018 and the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 by supplying a wide range of devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops for athletes and other participants.
  

IOC President Thomas Bach said on the IOC website last year that the funding generated by the top program directly supports the staging of every Olympic Games.
  

Lee Kun-hee, Lee's father and the ailing head of Samsung Electronics, is one of two South Korean members of the International Olympic Committee. (Yonhap)