(ATR) An IOC member tellsAround the RingsthatPOCOG is making headway on plans for the 2018 Olympics,as the city celebrates 1,000 days to the Games.
Gunilla Lindberg, chair of the IOC Coordination Commission for the 2018 Games, tells Around the Rings that she sees consistent progress in her collaboration with POCOG.
"We speak regularly with PyeongChang 2018 chairman Yang Ho Cho and his team."
POCOG is planning to stageceremonies in Gangneung, Jeongseon, PyeongChang and Seoul on Saturday to markthe official 1,000-day countdown to the Games.
Cho will deliver a speech to open the celebration at a ceremony in Seoul.
The theme, a PyeongChang 2018 spokesman tellsATR, is "Happy PyeongChang, Promise for 1,000 Days."
Games ambassadors including Olympian Yu-na Kim will be in Chuncheon, the capital of the Gangwon Province, for the host region ceremony.
POCOGwill appoint three new honorary ambassadors and set up winter sport exhibitions, promotional booths for sponsors throughout each venue city.
Speed skaters Seung-hoon Lee, Seung-hi Park and Tae-bum Mo will be announced as honorary ambassadors during a celebration at Seoul's Olympic Park.
Organizers plan to reveal the PyeongChang 2018 slogan accompanied by cultural performances and on-site interviews with locals at venue cities.
"The PyeongChang project is continuing to gain momentum with the recent partnership announcements," Lindberg tells ATR.
"The latest reports from our experts and the feedback from different stakeholders showing that POCOG is moving in the right direction."
Lindberg says thenext project review meeting with POCOG is slated for the end of July.
PyeongChang is staging the 2018 Winter Olympics Feb. 9-25.
POCOG Names Artistic Director for Opening, Closing Ceremonies
Moon-Tae Lee, president of theKorean Traditional Performing Arts Foundation, will direct the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Paralympics.
POCOG announced Lee as the executive artistic director for the ceremonies in a statement on Friday.
Lee has produced and directed entertainment programs at Korean Broadcasting System, POCOG says, and also served at the Seoul Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities.
"Mr. Lee has a very strong understanding and sensitivity to the special needs and issues of the Paralympics," the selecting committee said.
"And he has the ability to use technology and stadium space very well."
An artistic director for the PyeongChang Olympic Games will be announced at a later date.
The 2018 PyeonChang Paralympics will take March 9-18.
Written byNicole Bennett
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