





By Baek Byung-yeul

There are 615 days left until the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics begin, but it seems that one thing is conspicuously missing from Korea's first-ever Winter Games -- the official mascot.

Ever since the first Olympic mascot was created for the 1972 Munich Summer Games, their significance has been highlighted as they are one of the things that makes the Games memorable. The first official mascot of the Winter Games was introduced for the 1976 Games at Innsbruck, Austria.

Starting from "Waldi," the Munich Games dachshund to "Hare," "Polar Bear" and "Leopard" for the 2014 Sochi Games, the mascots have been emblematic of the Games, offering a warm welcome to athletes and spectators from around the world.

The PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) said the mascot for the 2018 Games will be unveiled as soon as it is approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, in June.

"We acknowledge that there has been a delay in introducing the mascot for the PyeongChang Games. We will start our promotional and marketing events for the mascot as soon as it is officially recognized by the IOC," the POCOG Spokesman Sung Baik-you said during the monthly media conference in Seoul on April 11.

The spokesman added that the PyeongChang committee is going through a difficult time coming up with the mascot, but it seems the organizers have not considered that it is already late for what they are planning to do, considering that "Hodori," the 1988 Seoul Olympics' official mascot, a stylized tiger, made its debut five years before the Games.

There has been speculation that the official mascot will be a version of the Asian black bear, the emblematic animal of Gangwon Province, but the spokesman denied it, saying "we cannot confirm whether the mascot will be based on an animal or an imaginary creature."

The province, which governs PyeongChang County, has its symbolic character, Ban-B, a mascot depicting an Asian black bear, designated as an endangered species and Natural Monument No. 329.

But the chances to use the bear are still uncertain as the animal has already been featured in the previous Games -- the 1980 Moscow Olympics and 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Also there is not be enough time to consider public opinion.

Taking an example from the 2014 Sochi Games, a shortlist was submitted to a nationwide vote in February, 2011.

An industrial designer said it takes about six weeks on average to create a mascot, but they need double or triple the time than six weeks as the mascot needs to meet with their customers' needs.

"When it comes to creating a whole new mascot, it usually takes six weeks. But as you know this is a worldwide event, and therefore of great importance to Korea," said Lim Hye-jin, director of local design company DesignPark.

Emphasizing the significance of the mascot, the director also said, "The importance of the mascot cannot be emphasized enough, as it represents the ideology of both the event and the host country. And it is why paying attention to public opinion is most important."

Besides "Hodori," which still is widely remembered as one of the most successful Olympic mascots ever, Korea has created several successful mascots representing international events as the host country.

Many people still remember "Kumdori," the imaginary creature of the 1993 Daejeon Expo, that generated great accord with the international exposition's theme "the challenge of a new road to development." Thanks to its popularity, "Kumdori" now represents the city.

However, The Sphreiks, comprised of "Ato," "Nik" and "Kaz," wasn't received well at the 2002 Korea-Japan FIFIA World Cup as the colors of the computer-generated mascots failed to connect the two host countries in the eyes of the public.