PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- The 2018 Winter Games host city of PyeongChang on Wednesday reaffirmed its readiness to host North Korea at the competition held south of the border, with Pyongyang expressing interest in participation. Lee Hee-beom, head of the 2018 Olympic organizing committee, said PyeongChang had been "preparing for a long time" for the possibility that North Korea would take part...

The chief of a Seoul-based inter-Korean sports exchange promotion group said Wednesday he believes Pyongyang will send athletes and a cheering squad to the Winter Olympics south of the border next month. Kim Kyung-sung, who leads the South-North Korea Inter-Korean Sports Association, made the claim based on his attendance at meeting with North Korean officials in China last month. "I believe th...

The International Olympic Committee on Wednesday welcomed the interest taken by the two Koreas in having talks on the North's participation in the upcoming Winter Games south of the border. In a statement emailed to Yonhap News Agency on Wednesday, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said, "The IOC welcomes the mutual intentions of the governments of the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republ...

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- South Korean alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho said Friday he will try to meet home fans' expectations at the upcoming Winter Olympics. Lee is one of South Korea's medal hopefuls at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. He had impressive results earlier this year, winning two gold medals at the Asian Winter Games in February. The 22-year-old also became the first South K...

The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee said Thursday it will launch a fundraising campaign next month as part of its efforts to offset carbon emissions from the preparation and operation of the Feb. 9-25 sports event. The committee asked participating athletes, spectators, countries, institutions and organizations to take part in the campaign, which will run fr...

South Korean organizers have unveiled the podiums, costumes, music and gifts for medalists on Wednesday that will be used during the victory ceremonies at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games next year. The PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games said the victory ceremonies will be staged under the concept of "convergence and unique." The P...

Ticket sales for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics have surpassed 60 percent, the event‘s organizers said Sunday. There are 47 days left until the Feb. 9 opening ceremony of the first Winter Games in South Korea. And as of Thursday, 655,000 tickets had been sold, or 61 percent of the organizers’ target of 1.07 million tickets. The quadrennial competition will run through Feb. 25, with athl...

The torch relay for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics will resume on Saturday, after Friday's leg was canceled following a deadly fire in its scheduled stop. PyeongChang's organizing committee earlier scrapped its torch relay in Jecheon, some 170 kilometers southeast of Seoul, for Friday, after a massive fire engulfed a commercial building in the city on Thursday and claimed 29 lives. The Ol...

South Korea's chef de mission for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games said Thursday he is ready to give his utmost effort to help the national team finish inside the top four in the medal race. Kim Ji-yong, executive director at Kookmin University in Seoul, was named the chief delegate for South Korea at the PyeongChang Olympics in October. The 44-year-old said he is determined to support ...

BUSAN -- South Korean mixed martial arts fighter Kang Kyung-ho said Thursday he is ready to give his all in his comeback bout next year. Kang will have his first bout since September 2014 when he faces Guido Cannetti at the Ultimate Fighting Championship Fight Night 124 in St. Louis, Missouri, on Jan. 14. He is one of two South Koreans at the UFC competition with Choi Doo-ho, who will take on Je...

JINCHEON, South Korea -- The torch for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games toured the national training center for Olympic athletes on Wednesday, with summer sports stars lending support to the quadrennial competition. The torch relay, which began on Nov. 1, reached the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, some 90 kilometers south of Seoul in North Chungcheong Province. South Korean fen...

INCHEON -- South Korean hockey-playing brothers Kim Ki-sung and Kim Sang-wook said Tuesday they left a recent international tournament in Moscow more confident athletes, despite getting defeated by the top dogs. The Kims and the rest of the men's national team returned home from the Channel One Cup in the Russian capital that they played last week. The 21st-ranked South Korea fell to No. 1 Canad...

INCHEON -- A Canadian by birth but South Korean by passport now, hockey goalie Matt Dalton said he experienced "weird" feelings at a recent tournament in Moscow. South Korea faced Canada to open the Channel One Cup in the Russian capital last Wednesday. As is the custom in international hockey, anthems of both countries were played inside the VTB Ice Palace. And this was the first time Dalton, ...

INCHEON -- South Korea might have lost all three games at a pre-Olympic men's hockey tournament last week, but head coach Jim Paek said Tuesday not all was lost for his charge. Paek and his charge returned home from Moscow, where they played and lost all three matches at the Channel One Cup. It was the final tournament for South Korea before the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which will be th...

With South Korea gearing up for its first Winter Olympic Games, the arrival of the Olympic flame topped the list of the country's most memorable sports news stories of 2017, as compiled by Yonhap News Agency on Monday. Joining the PyeongChang Winter Games' torch relay at the top was South Korea's qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. In a survey of 58 South Korean newspapers and ...