PyeongChang promotes mascot in Rio

By Choi Ha-young

Soohorang, the white tiger mascot of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to promote the upcoming Winter Games in Korea, Wednesday.

The PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Games (POCOG) said the Korean tiger mascot visited the iconic Corcovado Mountain towering over Rio and posed for pictures with the 38-meter-tall Christ the Redeemer statue, one of Brazil’s most famous sights.

Unveiled in June, Soohorang is the mascot for the 2018 Winter Games. “Sooho” means protection in Korean and “rang” comes from “horangi,” the Korean word for tiger. “Rang” also refers to “Arirang,” a popular Korean folk song, according to POCOG.

The tiger mascot accompanies a black bear character named Bandabi, which characterizes the endangered Asiatic black bear residing in the Korean Peninsula. Bandabi symbolizes strong willpower and courage.

Korea will open the PyeongChang House, Sunday, at the city’s famous tourist attraction Copacabana Beach to introduce the winter event and Korean culture. Visitors can enjoy various winter sports there through virtual reality.

A mobile promotion booth will be operated in Rio during the Olympics and travel the country to Sao Paulo and South American countries Argentina and Chile afterwards.

The POCOG executives, led by its President Lee Hee-beom, gear up promotions for the Winter Games in Rio starting Monday (local time). The officials reported their progress in event preparation to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials and held meetings to strengthen cooperation with the organizers of 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics and 2022 Beijing Winter Games.