Emilia Kircheva of Bulgaria (left) and Sadykova Aigerim of Kazakhstan, both Korea.net honorary reporters, pose for a selfie at the base of the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center, in Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do Province, on Jan. 24. (Jeon Han)
By Xu Aiying and Sohn JiAe
Pyeongchang l Jan. 23, 2018
The seventh class of Korea.net honorary reporters, launched by the Korean Cultural and Information Service (KOCIS), visited the host cities of February’s PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games on Jan. 23 to promote the upcoming winter sports festival.
Among the total of 270 reporters, 26 individuals from 17 countries were able to come to Korea for the event. They hailed from Egypt, the Philippines, Ghana, Bulgaria, Germany, Kazakhstan, China and Japan, among other places.
During the two-day trip, the group paid a visit to the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center in Pyeongchang-gun and to the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung-si, the venue for the figure skating and short-track speed skating events, all in Gangwon-do Province. They were seen capturing pictures and making videos of everything their eyes could see at the Olympic venues, and uploading the photos and videos in real-time to their Facebook or Instagram profiles, as well as to ING, the Chinese live-streaming channel, and other social media platforms.
Korea.net honorary reporters call out, “Go PyeongChang! Go Gangneung! Go Jeongseon!” as they pose for a group photo at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do Province, on Jan. 24. (Jeon Han)
Zhao Yadong from China live-streamed his trip on ING Live, a streaming platform, showing his audience the facilities, the sporting events to be held at the venues, the official Olympic mascots, the most-anticipated athletes from Korea and China, and talking about transportation to the host cities and food that can be found across the province.
Zhao’s 2-hour-37-minute broadcast was viewed by 57,000 people and earned 2,051 “likes,” as of Jan. 29. It garnered lots of comments, too, such as, “I can see the blue sky in Pyeongchang,” from user Weiwei and, “I’m so lucky to watch the Olympic venues live,” from Tongchuanhanzi Shelby.
“There’s great interest in the upcoming PyeongChang Games in China, as it’s the next Winter Olympic host country,” said Zhao. “It’s such an honor that I can introduce these host cities to my Chinese audience as a Korea.net honorary reporter.”
A group of Korea.net honorary reporters uploads pictures to social media during its visit to the Winter Olympic host cities of Pyeongchang-gun and Gangneung-si on Jan.24. (Zhao Yadong, Majid Mushtaq)
Majid Mushtaq of Pakistan wrote on his Facebook profile that, “Honorary reporters and Korea Clickers [Korea.net’s official Facebook profile] welcome you to PyeongChang,” along with some pictures of himself and other honorary reporters and Olympic volunteers against the backdrop of the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center.
At the Gangneung Ice Arena, complete with ice-making and ice-quality inspection facilities, Solis Sheena of the Philippines posted five pictures to her Instagram feed, commenting that, “I’ll be posting a series of photos, videos, articles and news updates about #2018PyeongChang.”
What the honorary reporters discovered in the host cities will soon be available in their own written words at www.korea.net and at www.koreanetblog.blogspot.kr. You can also see links to their submissions at https://www.facebook.com/KoreaClickers/, as well as at Korea.net’s official social media profiles on YouTube, Instagram and Weibo, and soon on Youku and VKontakte.
Solis Sheena of the Philippines and Andrea Benavides of Columbia, both part of the 2018 class of Korea.net honorary reporters, show on their Facebook profiles and personal blogs pictures of the Olympic venues from their recent visit to Pyeongchang-gun and Gangneung-si, in Gangwon-do Province.
xuaiy@korea.kr
