[World Report] Koreans running for the'D-1' Beijing Winter Olympics

There is less than a year left for the Beijing Winter Olympics.

As expected, the Beijing Winter Olympics will be held for 17 days from February 4th next year in downtown Beijing, Yanqing District outside Beijing, and Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province.

The Chinese authorities are publicizing them day after day, saying Beijing is the first city in the world to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

President Xi Jinping visited the Winter Olympics last month and was confident in hosting the Olympics successfully. I looked around the site.

It has repeatedly proclaimed the message'No matter what, the Beijing Winter Olympics will be held'.

China, who has been designated as the source of Corona 19, will want to somehow hold the Olympics to emphasize the image of overcoming Corona.

In China, where Corona 19 first spread on a large scale, you will want to leave the impression that'humanity has won the fight against the virus' by holding the first proper Olympics since the corona crisis.

However, we cannot guarantee this'global winter feast' yet.

Right now, the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics have been postponed for a year to July this year, but it is also uncertain to hold this event.

Even in this situation, there are Koreans who silently run toward the Beijing Winter Olympics.

They are the ones who compete with the world's people in Beijing before our squad or establish a ground for sports exchange.

, who runs a winter sports goods company in Beijing, is a former Korean swimmer.

As an athlete, I entered Beijing Sports University in 1995 at the recommendation of an executive of the local swimming federation and made my first relationship with China. After attending the military, I settled in Beijing in 2003.

At that time, China was a wasteland for winter sports.

In the cold regions of the northeast region such as Harbin, very few'upper class' enjoyed winter sports.

There were few decent ski slopes.

From that time on, CEO Jung entered the winter sports goods market in China.

It was hard.

It is said that the'belief' among Chinese people is weak because the base of winter sports in China is too narrow and because of being Korean.

This is because there was a strong perception as a foreigner who did not know when to leave.

When the corona 19 spread last year, all ski resorts in China were closed.

However, Corona 19 soon became a phone call.

Chinese skiers who had gone abroad began to search for ski resorts in China as the sky was blocked by Corona 19.

The policy support from the Chinese authorities ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics was also helpful to President Chung, as President Xi Jinping professed to introduce 300 million people into winter sports.

In all of China, not only universities, but also elementary, middle and high school clubs to learn skiing and snowboarding have been established, and the population of ski resorts has increased tenfold in three years.

Indoor ski resorts were created in southern China, such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen, where snow cannot be seen throughout the year.

Since three years ago, CEO Jung's sales have grown by 30-40%, and are at the top of the market share in the Chinese winter sports goods industry.

It has been imported and supplied from Korea, Japan, and the United States, but now produces its own brands.

Clothing is dominated by about 30% in the Chinese market and some items are dominated by more than 50% among enthusiasts.

Chung's representative company's store was also introduced on Chinese state media such as CCTV broadcasting.

CEO Jung cited the teamwork of employees as the secret to the company's growth.

As a token of gratitude, we are promoting a plan to distribute the small land of Jeju Island to employees who have worked for more than 10 years.

However, we cannot be relieved.

This is because, in the wake of the winter sports boom, large Chinese companies are also aiming to enter the winter sports goods business.

CEO Chung expects the Beijing Winter Olympics to become a bigger platform for promoting the company's brand.

Volunteer activities are also being planned so that Korean athletes can achieve good results at the Olympics.

We promised to make reservations for interpreters, accommodation, arrange for training, etc.

That is why he is still Korean.

Jae-kwang

, has served as Vice Chairman of the Korea Ski Association during the week.

He is in charge of investment at a Chinese investment company, and he is looking for a project that can cooperate between Korea and China and a route for Korean companies to advance into China, starting with the Winter Olympics.

For example, at the end of 2019, the Chinese authorities invited experts to ask for plans to remodel and recycle the Olympic facilities, and participated from the standpoint of both Korean and investors.

One of the themes that China is emphasizing at the Beijing Winter Olympics is'eco-friendly and recycling'.

Eight of the 12 stadiums in which the Winter Olympics are held, including the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics main stadium as a venue for the opening and closing of the Winter Olympics, were buildings used during the Summer Olympics.

Director Jung advises that the opportunity for Koreans and Korean companies to participate in the process of recycling stadium facilities after the Winter Olympics can widen.

Participation is possible using various contents such as Korean art education, children's education, and the Korean trainee training system.

Director Jung is aiming at the explosive growth of the Chinese winter sports population, and is trying to advance Koreans into China.

The idea is to connect and advance a large number of Korean athletes and coaches to China, which has a large population but still lacks training and operation know-how for skiing and snowboarding.

If Korean players or coaches can't find a place in Korea after retirement, they will be able to play the second act in China.

Director Jung says that although Korea-China exchanges may be wishful for political and cultural reasons, sports exchanges are different.

He emphasizes that if you compete fairly on an equal footing, and based on a sports spirit that respects your opponents, you can interact without any political color.

long course for the Olympics has begun in the private sector as well as in the'Kwan (官)' area.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, it is almost impossible to conduct activities such as the Korean Sports Association in Beijing.

The role of preparing for the squad and promoting Korea is currently the responsibility of the Korean Cultural Center in China.

Kim Jin-gon, head of the Korean Cultural Center in China, predicts that the Beijing Winter Olympics will spontaneously increase the interest of people around the world in Korea, which was the site of the Winter Olympics.

Because it is geographically close, it is said that the Beijing Winter Olympics could be a place for Korea-linked tourism.

People from all over the world who have come to see the Beijing Olympics can even visit Korea.

Although there were some parts that made it difficult to carry out due to the coronavirus outbreak, it is said that there was also a discussion about joint tourism between Korea, Japan, and China.

It was a blueprint to take advantage of this opportunity, as three Olympics will be held one after another in Northeast Asia alone between PyeongChang 2018-Tokyo 2020-2022 and Beijing in 2022.

The Tokyo Olympics are postponed and the Beijing Olympics are still uncertain, but if the corona crisis subsides and the contagion concerns are cleared by vaccine supply, Kim said.

Even for that time, he said that he had to prepare from now on.

Director Kim is also pushing ahead with a plan to set up a Korean public relations center in the Beijing Winter Olympics athletes' village.

This is a public relations center for people around the world, including national athletes and missions, not Chinese.

The basic concepts are'originality of Korean culture' and'differentiation from Chinese culture'.

People around the world can regard the cultures of Korea and China as similar, with the same Eastern and Northeast Asian cultures. Director Kim's aspiration is to take this opportunity to spread the excellence of our culture.

Director Kim predicted, "The Olympics will inevitably globalize the level of public consciousness and will inevitably promote large-scale rooms."

We hope that the level of consciousness of the Chinese will become more global, so that our products and Korean Wave will advance into China more actively after the Olympics.