About a third of tickets for South Korea’s Winter Olympics sold with about 100 days to go
Pyeongchang — Workers in the South Korean resort town of Pyeongchang are making final preparations for the Winter Olympics, remaking roads, renovating buildings and preparing menus in English, Chinese and Japanese — a burst of activity that masks a big problem. With fewer than 100 days before the Games begin, barely a third of the tickets have been sold. "It’s a bummer," said motel owner Oh Young-whyan, who spent about $360,000 refurbishing his 15-room property close to the Olympics Plaza. Oh, other hotel owners and local authorities say political tension with North Korea and China have chilled foreign interest in the Games, which open on February 9 just 80km from the world’s most heavily fortified border. Tourists are reluctant to commit to the event as North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and US President Donald Trump trade insults and threats of mutual destruction, after the North conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in September. Ticket sales are weak, with 341,327 s...
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