If you’ve been watching the Olympics, you may have been confused to see winning athletes being handed not medals, but dolls of Soohorang, the official white tiger mascot of the PyeongChang Games.You might also have wondered whether the flower bouquets, which traditionally get presented with the medals at the Olympics, have entirely disappeared. Stuffed Soohorangs wearing a usahwa hat, which are awarded to the medalists at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics (Yonhap)Why the stuffed tigers instead of

Until the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, curling was a sport largely unknown to South Koreans. However, the latest string of breakout performances by the women’s curling team has thrown the strategic winter sport into the limelight.　South Korea’s female curling team has risen to fresh international stardom at PyeongChang. Ranked eighth in global rankings, the host country has secured victories over some of the world’s top contenders in curling, including Canada, Switzerland and Great Britain.　On M

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- Typically, world-class athletes make up the core of any Olympic Games. At PyeongChang, however, an unlikely entity has emerged as a new star: high-tech robots roaming the premises of the Olympic venues.　From a self-navigating cleaner bot vaguely resembling Star Wars’ R2-D2 to autonomous drink-serving robots and robotic fish swimming inside water tanks, South Korea’s service robots have been capturing the attention of Olympic guests from around the world.Korea has

After suffering two shutout losses against Switzerland and Sweden, the unified Korean women’s ice hockey team made Olympic history by scoring its first and only goal in its match against Japan on Wednesday.Although Korea ended up losing to Japan in a 4-1 loss, the goal was celebrated by South Korean and American spectators as well as North Korea’s all-female cheerleading squad at the Kwandong Hockey Center.Takeuchi Aina of Japan (left) in action against Randi Heesoo Griffin of Korea (right) duri

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- South Korea’s lone Nordic combined skier Park Je-un expressed regret Thursday that he failed to overcome his nerves during his first Winter Olympics performance. 　Park finished 46th among 47 competitors in the individual Gundersen normal hill/10-kilometer event at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Wednesday with a time of 30 minutes, 56.5 seconds. He was more than six minutes slower than gold medalist Eric Frenzel of Germany. 　Although he became the first South

SKELETON SLIDER TAKES OFF — South Korean skeleton racer Yun Sung-bin takes off in his first run in the men’s skeleton event at the Alpensia Sliding Center in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, Thursday. The medalists will be determined by their total times after four races. The first two runs are taking place Thursday, with the remainder scheduled for Friday. (Yonhap)SKELETON SLIDER TAKES OFF — South Korean skeleton racer Yun Sung-bin takes off in his first run in the men’s skeleton event at the Alp

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province — South Korea took the opportunity to promote Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, with a Hangeul calligraphy performance held on the sidelines of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Wednesday. 　Korean Hangeul culture and arts promotion team for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics brought together five local artists for the event.Korean calligraphy, also known as “seoye” in Korean, is the tradition of artistic writing created via careful brushstrokes. Early Korean calligraphy was

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- On Sunday, thousands of spectators anxiously waited in the cold at the Winter Olympics men’s 30-kilometer cross-country skiing skiathlon finals to witness their favorite athletes in action as they vied for gold.Throughout the endurance race lasting over an hour, the audience at the scene had no choice but to watch the main big screen to see where and what the athletes were doing. And more, the cameras focused only on those in the lead, so if your country’s athlet

HOENGSEONG, Gangwon Province — “Skiro, who showed an impressive performance in the first round is off to a steady start. He passes through the red gates successfully! He makes a great turn to the right at the right speed!” Though they may seem like the words of any regular sports commentator, this announcer was describing a skiing tournament with a difference — the world’s first ever humanoid robot ski competition, organized by South Korea on the sidelines of the PyeongChang Olympics.(Shot and e

CONGESTED ROADS TO OLYMPICS -- The Daegwallyeong IC linking Seoul to the main venues for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics is congested with traffic Sunday. A total of 2,952 athletes are competing in 102 sports across 15 different events over the course of 16 days. (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald) CONGESTED ROADS TO OLYMPICS -- The Daegwallyeong IC linking Seoul to the main venues for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics is congested with traffic Sunday. A total of 2,952 athletes are competing in 102 s

GANGNEUNG, Gangwon Province -- Alibaba Group Holdings, the official cloud services and e-commerce partner for the Olympics until 2028, has opened a new cloud technology showcase space at the Gangneung Olympic Park.　The PyeongChang Winter Games is the first Olympic Games for Alibaba to act as an official sponsor and promote its cloud vision for the international sporting event.The Alibaba cloud technology showcase is an interactive space that shows athletes, spectators and Olympic organizers how

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- The PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games is now well into its second day. Here is what’s trending in South Korea and abroad right now.　Kim Young-nam, (top row, left) the President of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea, tears up while watching athletes from South Korea and North Korea march under the Korea Unification Flag during the 2018 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony at PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, Friday. To the right of Kim Young-nam

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- Thousands of glittering drones filled the night skies of PyeongChang at the tech-savvy 2018 Winter Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on Friday, impressing Olympic viewers worldwide.　A record-setting 1,218 drones shot into the sky and traveled to a nearby ski slope, first taking on the shape of a moving snowboarder and later rearranging themselves into the iconic interlocking five Olympic rings.Adding further excitement to the performance, hundreds of South Korean sn

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- At the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games Friday, a group of around 190 athletes from South Korea and North Korea will march together under the Korean Unification Flag symbolizing a “unified Korea.”　It’s the first time in 12 years that the two Koreas will be marching as one at an Olympics event. At PyeongChang, the South and North have also taken their relations up a notch by forming their first ever unified Olympics team in women’s ice hock

(Shot by Park Ju-young / Edited by Park Ju-young)PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province — With just a day left until the opening ceremony, anticipation is running high among those attending South Korea’s first-ever Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang.　On Thursday afternoon, roads leading up to PyeongChang Olympic Plaza were packed with vehicles, while certain pathways were closed off with heavy police security ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony. Colorful flags promoting the Winter Games in PyeongChang, G

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- North Korea’s 229-woman cheerleading squad arrived in South Korea on Wednesday as part of the country’s delegation to the PyeongChang Olympic Games, sparking interest in the group’s activities for the next few weeks.　Referred to as Kim Jong-un’s “army of beauties,” the cheering squad is expected to root for its own national athletes, and possibly the South Korean national team. And it seems very likely the North’s cheerleaders will garner more attention than its

ANTI-FUR PROTEST AT OLYMPICS -- Animal rights activist Ashley Fruno stages an anti-fur protest Tuesday while wearing just a bikini at subzero temperatures in PyeongChang, ahead of the Winter Games that kick off Friday. As a representative of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, Fruno called for an end to the fur trade, saying that fur has no place at an event like the Olympics. (Yonhap-AFP) ANTI-FUR PROTEST AT OLYMPICS -- Animal rights activist Ashley Fruno stages an anti-fur pr

The PyeongChang Winter Olympics Committee has introduced a Q&A chatbot on Facebook Messenger that converses with you in text to provide automated answers to Olympic-related inquiries, Facebook said Tuesday.　Those interested in the service can visit the PyeongChang Olympics’ official Facebook Page and click “send message” to begin conversing with the chatbot via Facebook Messenger. The chatbot is available only in English and Korean. The Olympics chatbot can provide answers to simple topics such

At every Olympic Game, there is a unique mascot which bolsters Olympic spirit while promoting the culture and values of the event’s host city and country.　And in South Korea, a white tiger named Soohorang and an Asiatic black bear named Bandabi will each be representing the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games set to kick off in PyeongChang this week. There is a rich symbolism and culture behind the two animals, which are closely associated with Korean traditional folklore and mythology. Bandabi

Russia’s 15-year-old figure skating sensation Alina Zagitova performs a fast triple lutz-triple loop combination on the ice. The moment passes by so quickly, and it’s hard to see what’s going on from your seat in the back of the stadium.　Propping on your 5G-enabled virtual reality headsets, you get a 360-degree view of the entire rink. On a smartphone, you slide your finger across the screen to view a particular jump to see how it was exactly performed in the split of a second.On a 5G-connected