Randi Heesoo Griffin, a naturalized half-Korean forward for the joint Korean women's hockey team, said Wednesday training with North Koreans for the PyeongChang Olympics has gone well.Griffin, a former Harvard forward who has been with the national team since 2015, said there has been no disputes with North Koreans inside the team. The International Olympic Committee has allowed the Koreas to put 35 players on their joint entry -- 23 South Koreans and 12 North Koreans -- though the game roster o

GANGNEUNG, South Korea -- South Korean short tracker Hwang Dae-heon, who will participate in four events for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, said Wednesday he aims to have a "no-regret" race for his specialty -- the men's 1,500 meters slated for this weekend.Hwang's teammate Seo Yi-ra and Lim Hyo-jun will also compete in the race, but the 18-year-old skater currently stands as world No. 1 in the distance. The men's 1,500m will take place a day after PyeongChang's opening ceremony, and Hwang is

Rio 2016 Olympic Champions Ki Bo-bae, Chang Hye-jin and Choi Mi-sun are the final torchbearers of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics to carry the flame to the opening ceremony of the main venue in PyeongChang. From left: South Korean archers Chang Hye-jin, Ki Bo-bae and Choi Mi-sun. Photo: Coca-ColaThe flame is scheduled to arrive at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium on Friday, 101 days after it first came to South Korea as part of the torch relay in the run-up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.Ki

A giant national flag. A smiling angel. The dictator's pop diva. And a dozen women added to a South Korean hockey team to form the Koreas' first-ever joint Olympic team.Yes, North Korea is again stealing the show in pre-Olympic media coverage, although none of its 22 athletes is expected to win a medal at the South Korean Winter Games. The athletes hardly speak but still gather a crowd of journalists and curious South Korean spectators whenever they attend a training session, the only chance for

Lee Sang-hwa, considered a medal favorite for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, kicked off her training in the Olympic city of Gangneung on Tuesday.The skater, who returned home from Germany on Monday, participated in the national team's training session at Gangneung Oval, after moving into the Gangneung Olympic Village earlier in the day. The venue will host speed skating events for the 2018 Winter Games.Lee's archrival, Nao Kodaira of Japan, also trained at a similar time on the rink. For the t

Two members of North Korea's taekwondo squad that will perform in the South during the Winter Olympics were found to have made their way across the border earlier than initially expected, as supporting members of the country's women's hockey team, officials said Tuesday.The Unification Ministry announced that a 280-member North Korean delegation, including cheerleaders and taekwondo demonstrators, will travel to South Korea on Wednesday ahead of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.The ministry said

Regardless of the inter-Korean and sports rivalry enveloping them, South Korean figure skating pair Kim Kyu-eun, 19, and Kam Kang-chan, 23, are seemingly in a fairly great relationship with the North Korean pair Ryom Tae-ok, 19, and Kim Ju-sik, 26. The pairs trained alongside each other at Gangneung Ice Arena, Monday, for a session that lasted about 40 minutes from 3 p.m. during which they smiled at each other when their eyes met. Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik (Yonhap)Throngs of Korean and foreign

The top organizer of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics said Tuesday he's confident of a sellout at the quadrennial competition.Lee Hee-beom, head of the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Games, said that as of Monday, 826,000 tickets had been sold, 77.3 percent of the total available.(Yonhap)"Compared to previous Olympics, the sales rate isn't too bad," Lee said at a press conference. "On Monday alone, we sold 7,600 tickets. We've been selling between 7,000 an

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

South and North Korean pair figure skaters shared the ice for the first time during a practice session at the Gangneung Ice Arena on Monday. The two pairs from each half of the peninsula, Kim Kyu-eun and Kam Kang-chan from the South and Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik from the North, practiced side by side ahead of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which start Friday. It was the first time the Kim-Kam duo practiced at the Gangneung Ice Arena. Ryom and Kim arrived in South Korea last Thursday and began

GANGNEUNG -- Korea's figure skater Cha Jun-hwan is well prepared to make a top-10 finish at his first Olympics in PyeongChang, his Canadian coach said Tuesday."After he won nationals and earned his spot to come to the Olympics, he came back to Toronto as a different person," Brian Oser told reporters after wrapping up Cha's first practice session at Gangneung Ice Arena three days before the opening of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. "He was stronger; he was faster. He's pretty excited."Cha, 16,

GANGNEUNG, South Korea -- South Korea's national short track speed skating team started training in the Olympic city of Gangneung on Tuesday, highly confident of their prospects at the upcoming PyeongChang Games.The five male and five female skaters focused on speed and teamwork at the first training session at the ice rink at Gangneung Yeongdong University in the sub-host city of the Olympics.They arrived in Gangneung on Monday. The Winter Games are set to kick off Friday."We have finished trai

The Olympics offer the chance to witness the top athletes from around the world, but the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic and Paralympic Games will also allow visitors to experience K-pop entertainment.“We are preparing around 400 various events during 20-30 minute intermissions to wow and entertain fans,” an official from the sports presentation division of the organizing committee for the Olympic Games said.Participating K-pop artists include boy band Teen Top, girl group Momoland and singers like Ail

South Korean government will exempt freeway fees for drivers passing through toll gates adjacent to venues of 2018 PyeongChang Olympic and Paralympic Games. According to the event’s organizing committee and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, any car that passes through the eight tollgates of Myeonon, PyeongChang, Soksa, Jinbu, Daegwanryeong, Gangneung, North Gangneung and South Gangneung in Gangwon Province.  (Yonhap)The benefit will be made available to not only the cars that a

South Korean President Moon Jae-in reaffirmed his efforts Monday to make the upcoming Winter Olympic Games here a success, saying the event will mark the start of establishing peace in the region. The remarks came in the 132nd session of the International Olympic Committee, held in Gangneung, a coastal city located 230 kilometers east of Seoul."Now, the IOC and the Republic of Korea are joined here together with the opening of peaceful and safe Olympic Games that we have worked together for just