The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic torch is set to arrive Saturday in Seoul -- the host city of the 1988 Summer Games -- as part of the torch relay across the country in the run-up to February’s Winter Games in Gangwon Province.
Photo taken in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. (Yonhap)
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said the torch, which carries the flame that was lit at the Temple of Hera in Greece in October last year and arrived in South Korea in November, will tour the capital city until Tuesday. This Seoul’s first Olympic torch relay event since the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
The torch relay course covers 103 kilometers, beginning in Mapo district in northwestern Seoul, with some 600 torchbearers joining the run. They include former soccer player Cha Bum-kun and actor Park Bo-gum.
From Saturday, some roads will be closed along the torch relay route, including Sejong-daero in central Seoul, while some public buses will make detours.
Also on the list of torchbearers in Seoul are past and current Olympians, including former speed skater and 1992 Olympic silver medalist Kim Yoon-man, 2002 Olympic short track champion Choi Min-kyung and current captain of the women’s ice hockey team Park Jong-ah, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee said.
(Shot by KT / Edited by Park Ju-young)
Before Seoul, the torch toured major cities across the country, including Jeju, Busan, Gwangju, Daejeon and Incheon, and is scheduled to travel 2,018 kilometers carried by some 7,500 torchbearers in total before arriving at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics on Feb. 9 in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul.
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said Thursday that the city “will focus efforts on promoting the upcoming Winter Games in the country during the four-day torch relay and Seoul’s 2,000 years of history and its global competitiveness to the world.”
More information about road closures and bus route changes during the Saturday-Tuesday torch relay can be found at www.spatic.go.kr.
