Still rumbling with excitement from the Winter Games, which wrapped up last month, South Korea’s Gangwon Province is playing host to another multinational sporting event, the PyeongChang Paralympics, which kicked off Friday.The opening ceremony for the games was held at the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium on Friday, attended by athletes and guests from all across the world.  The opening ceremony for the PyeongChang Paralympics is held at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium in Gangwon Province on Friday. (Yo

[Herald Interview] Renowned veteran portrait photographer talks about excitement in Paralympics, documenting athletes’ private, public moments

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- Para Nordic skier Sin Eui-hyun will carry the South Korean national flag at the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games on Friday after the host nation and North Korea failed to reach an agreement on a joint parade under a single flag. The local organizing committee unveiled the list of all flagbearers for the opening ceremony for the 12th Winter Paralympics, set to start at 8 p.m. Friday at PyeongChang Olympic Stadium in PyeongChang, Gangwon

Team Korea House, a facility that promotes the country and offers support for international athletes and guests, reopened its doors Friday for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympics.The house, which received some 200,000 visitors during the Winter Olympics from Feb. 9-25, has renovated its interior for the Paralympics, which run from Friday to March 18. On its first floor, an exhibit titled “Touring Korea in 360 degrees” shows photos and other works promoting Korea’s tourist attractions. An exp

PYEONGCHANG -- The two Koreas have decided not to have a joint march at the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics, the South's Korean Paralympic Committee (KPC) said Thursday.South and North Korea previously agreed to have a joint parade at the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics at the Olympic Stadium in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, on Friday.  Athletes and officials dine in the athletes' village in Pyeongchang Thursday. (Yonhap)The KPC will later release a

South Korean President Moon Jae-in conferred a state medal on Thomas Bach, the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), on Thursday for his contributions to the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games.Bach was presented with the Cheongryong Medal, the highest decoration in the country's Order of Sport Merit, in a ceremony at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae. President Moon Jae-in (right) confers the Cheongryong Medal on IOC chief Thomas Bach at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday. (Yonhap)"North K

With the opening of 2018 PyeongChang Paralympic Games just a day away, the city is busy making final preparations for the event. The torch for the games arrived in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Thursday afternoon, on a route that even took a brief trip above the sea via the Aranabi zip-line that connects Amnok and Namhangjin beaches. The torch for the PyeongChang Paralympics arrives in Gangneung via the Aranabi zip-line on Thursday.Athletes from North Korea, China and Uzbekistan made their offici

More than 7,000 people volunteered to become one of 24 life-size Bandabi mascots at the opening ceremony of the upcoming Winter Paralympics, the PyeongChang Organizing Committee said Wednesday. Bandabi is the mascot for the Paralympic Games set to begin Friday. Forty-eight volunteers were chosen for the 24 mascots. They signed up in pairs, with one person to don a life-size costume, and the other to accompany the mascot.Among those selected were a person rehabilitating from a former disability a

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- North Korea's delegation to the 2018 Winter Paralympic Games entered the athletes' village in the South Korean alpine town of PyeongChang on Wednesday.Kim Mun-chol, who heads the central committee of the Korean Federation for the Protection of the Disabled, expressed warm greetings to South Korea after arriving at the Paralympic Village in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province."Hello, our beloved compatriots and people with disabilities in the South," Kim told reporters

The night skies of PyeongChang will be lit up during the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics, according to the culture and sports ministry Wednesday.During the nine days of the Paralympic Games, which will run from Friday to March 18, there will be many cultural events, performances and fireworks in various venues, including the Olympic Festival Park in PyeongChang, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said. A performer dances with sparklers during "Fire Fantasy_Magical Night" in this photo pr

SEOUL/PAJU -- A 24-member North Korean delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics crossed the border into the South on Wednesday, according to pool reporters.The delegation, including sit-skiers Kim Jong-hyon and Ma Yu-chol, who will compete in Para Nordic skiing events at a wildcard invitation, will join the Paralympics which start Friday. They will return home on March 15."I am pleased," Hwang Chung-song, a senior official at the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, s

The International Olympic Committee announced on Wednesday that a record number of anti-doping tests were conducted during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics last month.The IOC said 3,149 tests were carried out, making it "the most robust anti-doping program in the history of the Olympic Winter Games." It said 1,393 of the tests were in competition, and 1,756 were out of competition.According to the IOC, 1,615 out of 2,963 accredited athletes, or 54 percent, were tested at least once, the majority

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- The South Korean Paralympic team was officially admitted Tuesday into the athletes' village for the PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games.A welcome ceremony for the South Korean team took place at the athletes' village in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, and 62 athletes and officials, including Vice Sports Minister Roh Tae-kang, attended the ceremony.The alpine skiers and wheelchair curling team members missed the ceremony due to training. South Korea was

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump on Monday named additional members of a delegation to the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Paralympic Games.The designations come after he chose Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen to lead the group to the event this Friday. Donald Trump and Kirstjen Nielsen (AP)The other members are Marcia Lee Kelly, deputy assistant to Trump; Marc Knapper, charge d'affaires at the US Embassy in Seoul; John Bardis, assistant secretary for administration at

The medals for the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics are similar to those of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics as they are both inspired by unique Korean culture, but there are differences. According to local organizers Monday, both medals for the Olympics and the Paralympics were inspired by the Korean alphabet, "hangeul," Korean traditional clothing, "hanbok," and Korean traditional houses, "hanok." Both medals, designed by famed industrial designer Lee Suk-woo, use straps that are created with "ga