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South Korea’s Olympian Winter Moment

posted onFebruary 21, 2017

Article snippet: Emerging from the warmth of her car, Jung Sang-mi watched her husband trudge up a snowy hill, red sled in hand, as their 5-year-old son bounded excitedly ahead, ready for another run. Like many young South Koreans in the congested capital of Seoul, she and her husband escape to the nearby Taebaek Mountains to hit the slopes several times each winter, though she admitted they are still trying to find their legs as skiers. “We are not really good at it,” she said, “but we do enjoy the sledding.” There’s another draw that keeps their son enthralled — a palm-fringed indoor water park called Ocean 700, whose attractions include a wave pool, a lazy river filled with bobbing inner-tubes, and a waterslide with the slightly intimidating name of Tornado. In fact, Ms. Jung, a 36-year-old bank employee, thought the ski season was over on this particular trip in mid-March last year, when some of the smaller resorts began to close, so her family had come only for the waterslides. “It’s very popular in Korea. Maybe even more than the skiing.” Indeed, compared with neighboring Japan and its ingrained ski culture, deep-powder skiing and well-established resorts, South Korea is in many ways still coming into its own as a skiing and snowboarding destination. But this could soon change when Pyeongchang hosts the Winter Olympics from Feb. 9 to 25, 2018, only the third time the Winter Games will be held in Asia, and the first time outside Japan. It’s a big moment for the country, whic... Link to the full article to read more

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