GANGWON-DO < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(GANGNEUNG=Yonhap News) The City of Gangneung, which hosted skating events during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic games, had launched a large-scale “smile” campaign before the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The campaign is credited with helping Gangnueng citizens, who had not been particularly known for being generous with their smiles, greet visitors from outside the city and the country with bright smiles.

At present, the city plans to hold on to the campaign as one of the “legacies” of the 2018 Olympic Games, as well as the Culture Olympic programs that attracted foreign visitors’ interest including the Cheongchun Gyeongnohoe (a banquet held for the elderly), the Dobaerye (a ritual where the younger members of a community visit and pay respect to the elder), and the Daedohobu Officer Colorguard March.

On March 14, in a briefing session held at the city hall, the Gangneung City Government announced its plans for the Winter Olympic legacies.

First, to keep the Smile Campaign as one of the Olympic legacies, the city will reestablish “Smile Gangeung Action Committee” into a nonprofit corporation.

The citizen-led campaign was one of the major events that created the mood for the Olympics in the host city; it is credited with one of the driving forces behind the games’ success.

A staggering 124 NGOs contributed to this campaign led by the Smile Gangneung Action Committee, which was aimed at spreading the five virtues across the local community: kindness, order, cleanliness, service, and harmony.

The city also discussed continuing Cheongchun Gyeongnohoe and Dobaerye, as well as other cultural events held on the Wolha Street in the future, as well as the Danohyang and Wolhawjeon concerts and the Daedohobu Officer Colorguard March. In addition, a plan was in the talks to maintain the Gangneung City Tour Bus.

Dobaerye and Cheongchun Gyeongnohoe, in particular, was positively received by tourists from Korea and overseas for their display of the city’s tradition of more than 400 years and the respect for the elderly rooted deep within its culture.

The Gangneung Ice Arena, which hosted figure skating and short track skating events, will be repurposed to serve as a multipurpose culture/sports venue and a swimming facility.

The city also almost completed the finalization process for the plan to use the Gangneung Curling Center as a multipurpose venue and sports facility and the Gawndong Hocky Center as a training and multipurpose facility for the citizens.

The Ice Arena will host a memorial hall featuring various Olympics-related exhibits. The city has yet to announce its plans for the Gangneung Oval and the Gangneung Hockey Center.

yoo21@yna.co.kr

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Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (Mar. 14, 2018)

** This article was translated from the Korean.