South Korea's record for most gold medals at a Winter Games is six, set at the 2006 Torino Olympics and matched four years later in Vancouver. South Korea won a record-high 14 medals overall in 2010, with six gold, six silver and two bronze.

"Right now, I'd say we're locked to win about six gold medals," Lee said. "The key is to try to turn a couple of silver medals into gold medals."

Lee predicted a bulk of gold medals should come from short track speed skating, with world class stars Shim Suk-hee and Choi Min-jeong leading the way. From speed skating, South Korea could win anywhere between one and three gold medals, led by a pair of former Olympic champions -- Lee Sang-hwa and Lee Seung-hoon.

South Korea is counting on its first gold medal from a sliding event, either from men's skeleton or men's bobsleigh.

Yun Sung-bin, a rising star in skeleton, has finished the past two International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation World Cup seasons at No. 2 overall, behind Martins Dukurs of Latvia. In the two-men bobsleigh, pilot Won Yun-jong and brakeman Seo Young-woo won the overall World Cup title in 2016 and finished third in 2017.

Lee said the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee will form a task force to support athletes' Olympic preparations.

The National Training Center, based in the northern part of Seoul, will relocate sometime this fall to Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, some 90 kilometers south of the capital. Lee said winter sports athletes will stay put in Seoul until the PyeongChang Games, so that they can keep training in familiar surroundings. (Yonhap)