PyeongChang says 2018 Winter Games will stay home 'as planned'

PyeongChang, the South Korean host of the 2018 Winter Games, announced Friday all events for both the Olympics and Paralympics will be held in the country "as planned," its first formal rejection of the possibility of splitting events with another location in light of recent changes in Olympic hosting procedures.

In an English-language statement, Cho Yang-ho, president of the PyeongChang Winter Games organizing committee, said it will be difficult for PyeongChang to seek relocation of events because all the venues to be used for the 2018 Olympics are currently under construction.

"We will study the options once we receive more detailed information from the International Olympic Committee (IOC)," Cho said. "But for now, it is our wish to have all events staged in PyeongChang, Gangneung and Jeongseon (two neighboring towns) as per our original bid plan accepted by the IOC."

This was the first official statement issued by PyeongChang since the IOC earlier in the week unanimously approved the 40 recommendations put out by its president, Thomas Bach, called "Olympic Agenda 2020." It included an option for the host city to stage some competitions in different countries to save costs.

Bach has stated that it would take "exceptional cases" for a host city to hold events in a different country. But foreign media outlets, citing unnamed IOC officials and sources, reported that the IOC was urging PyeongChang organizers to halt their construction of a new sliding venue and move bobsleigh and luge competitions to another country.

Cho acknowledged that the Olympic Agenda 2020 offers "an effective and progressive opportunity for the future of the Olympic Movement," but said the IOC's proposed changes may not be applicable to PyeongChang at this juncture.

"We do not have much time, considering test events beginning in February 2016," Cho added. "We are developing solid legacy plans for post-Games use of the venues, as well as measures to control costs, and will continue to work on Games preparations in close cooperation with the IOC."

PyeongChang is the first South Korean host of the Winter Olympics. It edged out Munich of Germany and Annecy of France in an IOC vote in 2011, in its third bidding for the Winter Games. (Yonhap)