The organizers of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games on Monday announced the ticket prices for the quadrennial event with the average price reaching 140,000 won ($121).

The PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) said that a total of 1.17 million tickets will be issued to the public. The organizers expect 90 percent will be sold, generating 174 billion won in revenue. The POCOG said that 70 percent of the tickets will be sold in South Korea.

"We have been working on ticket prices since October 2014," the POCOG Secretary General Yeo Hyung-koo said in a press conference.

"We have discussed with each federation and our government before receiving final approval from the International Olympic Committee (IOC)."

The POCOG said ticket prices for its 15 disciplines will range from 20,000 won to 900,000 won. It added that half of the tickets are 80,000 won or less and the average price of tickets will be

140,000 won, which is almost the same as the average ticket price for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.

The price of tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies will range from 220,000 won to 1.5 million won, which is similar to the Vancouver Games but less than the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

Tickets for figure skating events will range from 150,000 won to 800,000 won. The ticket price for the men's ice hockey final starts at 300,000 won, with the most expensive ticket selling for 900,000 won.

"The ticket price for ice hockey could be a little high, but this is the sport that has been traditionally popular," said Eom Chan-wang, director general of the POCOG's marketing bureau. "There have been many inquiries from North America about ice hockey tickets, and we see no problem with selling them."

Eom said that the organizers have set the ticket price after analyzing market surveys from eight countries. They decided to have cheap ticket prices for sports that are relatively unpopular in South Korea, such as biathlon and luge, in a bid to draw more local fans.

Local war veterans and disabled people will receive 50 percent discounts, but Eom said that the organizers are not planning to give special discounts to others and there will be no free tickets because that is against the IOC policy.

The organizers said that tickets will be sold on the POCOG's official website starting in October. Those in South Korea can go to the POCOG's official website and people overseas can purchase their tickets through an authorized ticket reseller (ATR) in their country.

The PyeongChang organizers said that the ticket prices for the Paralympic Winter Games will be announced early next year.

The PyeongChang Winter Games runs from Feb. 9 to 25 in 2018. (Yonhap)