Skiers in Pyeongchang Skiers await their turn to take a lift to enjoy skiing and snowboarding at Yongpyong Resort in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province. (Yonhap)
Trout festivalForeign tourists hold up trout at the 13th Pyeongchang Trout Festival in the alpine town of PyeongChang in Gangwon Province, in this photo provided by PyeongChang County on Dec. 29, 2019. (Yonhap)
The Olympics continue to prove to be extremely wasteful and Pyeongchang is the latest example:
An aerial view of Olympic venues in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province on Aug. 22 /Yonhap
Gangwon Province is mired in massive debts after hosting the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang earlier this year.
The mountainous province with a population of 1.5 million had to host the biggest Winter Olympics so far, and six months on conflict with locals and unpaid wages continue to plague the local government, while the astronomically expensive venues sit empty.
The biggest headache is what to do with the speed skating rink, ice hockey center and Alpensia Sliding Center that have proved a bottomless pit of maintenance costs.
The province has to fork out W20.3 billion until 2022 just to keep the facilities running, but nobody knows what will happen afterwards (US$1=W1,109). Gangwon Province has asked the National Assembly to have the central government take on 75 percent of the upkeep costs, but the central government refused since it could set a bad precedent for allocating state funds.
The alpine skiing venue in Jeongseon, which was built on a 101-hectare piece of land owned by the Korea Forest Service, faces demolition. The government footed 75 percent of the W203.4 billion cost of building it and Gangwon Province the rest. A precondition was to return the land to the government after the Winter Olympics, but now locals want to keep it, hoping that the facility can generate income for the remote province.
Environmentalists and the KFS insist it must be demolished and the forest restored. [Chosun Ilbo]
Flag-bearers enter the closing ceremony of the Winter Paralympics at the Olympic Stadium in PyeongChang, northeastern South Korea, on March 18, 2018. (Yonhap)
South Korean ice sledge hockey captain Han Min-su climbs up the slope with the Paralympic torch on his back during the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, on March 9, 2018. (Yonhap)
Byant Fletcher of the United States practices his jump for Nordic combined individual Gundersen large hill/10 km competition of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics during a training session at Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre in PyeongChang, east of Seoul, on Feb. 19, 2018. (Yonhap)
