As well as inspect 2018 PyeongChang Olympic venues first-hand
By Kim Ji-sun (Ms.), staff reporter
Ambassador Dato Mohd Rosli Sabtu of Brunei Darussalam, ambassadors of Kenya, Norway and Latvia, and senior diplomats of a number of other countries attended the opening ceremony of the 2016 Gangneung Coffee Festival on Sept. 30, 2016 which was hosted by Mayor Choi Myung-hee of the City in the presence of the local and central government leaders of Korea, including Chairman Jo Young-don of the Gangneung City Council. The tour was organized by The Korea Post media group.
Gangneung, one of the two major host cities to the 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, together with Pyeongchang, has a great deal of attractions in store for the Korean and international visitors.
Offhand, there are the ultra-modern, state-of-the-art sports and accommodation facilities, already completed and some in the middle of construction. They include the Gangneung Olympic Park nicknamed the “Ice Sports Hub of the World.”
The guest accommodation facilities of Gangneung, according to Mayor Choi, also stand out with many top-rate tourist hotels. They include the 1,091-room Saint Jones Gyeongpo Hotel, the 948-room China Dream City, the 523-4om Sky Bay Hotel, the 520-room Gyeongpo Olympics County Hotel and the 350-room SM Hotel.
Gangneung is also noted for many Olympic medalists and winners of other coveted sports awards.
They include 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games Marathon Gold Medalist Hwang Young-jo, 2012 London Summer Paralympic Gold Medalist Gang Ju-young (Shooting) and 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games Gold Medalist Ms. Shim Suk-hee (short track race).
Then there is the handicapped Judoist Choi Kwang-Gun who won the 2012 London Summer Paralympic Games and the 2016 Rio Summer Paralympic Games and then the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games (Taekwondo) Gold Medalist Oh Hye-Ri.
As soon as the visiting ambassadors arrived in Gangneung, they were received personally by Mayor Choi and were invited to a briefing session at the Sea Mark Hotel in the City where they were shown important videos on the preparation of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games. A substantial number of the games and events are scheduled to be hosted by the Gangneung City.
The visiting ambassadors and other senior diplomats and the international media representatives then were invited to attend a luncheon with the leaders of the Gangneung City hosted by Mayor and Mrs. Choi.
In response to the welcome speech of Mayor Choi, Ambassador Dato Moh Rosli Sabtu of Brunei Darussalam said, “It is really a privilege and wonderful opportunity for us to be able to come and see for ourselves the fascinating nature and beauty of the city and the surrounding areas and furthermore, as you have mentioned, we are indeed grateful that the weather has been very kind and very accommodating for our visit to your lovely city of Gangneung.” Then he said, “We are also very pleased to be able to participate and experience the Gangneung Coffee Festival, which is a famous coffee festival in the Republic of Korea.” (See excerpts from the speech at the end of this article.)
The visiting ambassadors and other senior diplomats together with the international media representatives from Seoul then attended the Opening Ceremony performance where Mayor Choi, Ambassador Dato Mohd Rosli Sabtu and other visitors form the Seoul Diplomatic Corps took part at Coffee Ceremony which was termed, “100 Coffee Lovers and 100 Coffee Tastes.” The ceremony on the open-air ground was attended by hundreds of civic figures of the City and the surrounding localities.
All the Ice Sports Games of the 2018 Pyeongchanng Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games, according to Mayor Choi, are held in the Gangneung City, which include the figure skating, short track speed skating, speed skating, ice hockeys and curling.
