South Korean President Park Geun-hye has called on more companies in the country to support PyeongChang’s hosting of the 2018 winter Olympic Games.
Korean-based businesses Pagoda Education Group, Samil Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Youngone Outdoor and KT have already signed up as PyeongChang 2018 sponsors. According to the Yonhap news agency, the quartet have pledged 254.9bn won (€184.3m/$229m) to the Games.
However, PyeongChang 2018’s commercial efforts have been criticised. By contrast, Tokyo 2020 has signed up five top-tier partners for its summer Games – NEC, Fujitsu, Canon, NTT and Asahi Breweries – in this year alone.
Speaking at a meeting with senior officials from major Korean-based companies such as Samsung and Hyundai, Park said: “We urgently need the interest and assistance of the business community for a successful PyeongChang winter Olympics.”
The PyeongChang 2018 organising committee has already said it is in talks with other Korean companies in the hope of generating an additional 595bn won in sponsorship revenue. A PyeongChang 2018 official, who asked not to be identified, said that companies in South Korea “know they have no choice but to sponsor.”