The Winter Olympics will soon begin in South Korea, and the coastal city of Gangneung – the host of the indoor events – is preparing to open itself up to the world

The 2018 Winter Olympics will soon open in Pyeongchang, South Korea – which has taken pains, of varying effectiveness, to prevent the world from confusing it with Pyongyang, North Korea. But the games won’t be limited to the tiny mountain town of Pyeongchang itself; with a comparatively enormous population of 213,658, the nearby coastal city of Gangneung can lay claim to being the true Olympic capital.

Located on the other side of the country from the megacity of Seoul, Gangneung’s relatively remote seaside location has long made it an attractive destination for Koreans looking to get away from it all. Now, with the opening ceremonies approaching, it is scrambling to make itself a destination for the entire world. The mood has something in common with the capital’s Olympic Games 30 years ago, but can they introduce Gangneung to the world the same way they did Seoul?

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Olympic rings and art installations on a beach in Gangneung. Photograph: Felipe Dana/AP

Gangneung style

Gangneung today exudes a mixture of readiness and unreadiness. A newly built line of the KTX, Korea’s high-speed train network, began service last December, originating in Seoul and terminating at Gangneung’s gleaming new station. Outside the station wait dozens of equally shiny taxis, each equipped with “empty” signs in both Korean and English (an accommodation not even seen in the capital), and two large-scale figures of the official 2018 Olympic mascots, Soohorang the tiger and Bandabi the bear – smaller versions of whom peer out from shop windows throughout town.

Already built are Kwandong Hockey Centre, Gangneung Curling Centre, Gangneung Curling Centre, Gangneung Ice Arena, and Gangneung Oval. Other projects are rushing to completion – many of them mere steps away from Gangneung’s traditional covered markets and racks of stingrays drying in the sun, just as they have for centuries. Despite reports of sluggish ticket sales, Gangneung has braced itself for an influx of foreigners, and locals occasionally offer hearty welcomes to each (rare) western face they see.

Gangneung in numbers

13 – the number of venues to host the Olympics (six new and seven renovated).

2.2C – Gangneung’s daily mean temperature in February.

70 – the number of miles Gangneung lies from the North Korean border, a figure that might have caused more of a chill in ticket sales than the weather.

49 – the number of days the manhunt for North Korean military men lasted when their submarine ran aground near Gangneung during a botched infiltration attempt in 1996.

114 – the number of minutes it takes to reach Gangneung from Seoul on the new KTX line.

Five – the number of moons, it is said, that you can see at once on the Gyeongpodae pavilion overlooking Gangneung’s Gyeongpo lake. There’s one in the sky, one reflected in the water, one reflected in the sea, one reflected in your drinking glass, and one reflected in the eyes of your lover.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gangneung is hosting the indoor events of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Photograph: TASS/Barcroft Images

History in 100 words

Inhabited as far back as 129BC, Gangneung was first populated by the Yemaek, one of the tribes that preceded the Korean people as defined today. The city’s coastal location gave it important roles to play, under a variety of names, in both the Goguryeo and Silla kingdoms which rose and fell between the first century BC and 10th century AD. During the Joseon Dynasty (between 1392 and 1897), the city offered a getaway for the yangban, Korea’s class of aristocratic scholars, and continues to hold the same promise to visitors today.

Gangneung in sound and vision

In his second movie, 1998’s The Power of Kangwon Province, Korean film-maker Hong Sang-soo brought his distinctive brand of formally experimental social comedy to Gangneung, using it as the starting point from which to send his romantically troubled characters on a trip to the surrounding mountains. Hong returned to Gangneung in last year’s On the Beach at Night Alone, casting A-list star Kim Min-hee as an actor in flight from her romantic trouble with a married man back in Seoul (paralleling Hong and Kim’s scandalous real-life relationship).

Last year, the 30-episode historical television drama Saimdang, Light’s Diary took viewers back to Gangneung of the Joseon Dynasty to tell the story of 16th-century artist and poet Shin Saimdan – a woman with a face known to all Koreans by virtue of appearing on the 50,000-won banknote.

What’s everyone talking about?

An odd incident in Gangneung last December brought the city another moment of national attention. Responding to an electrical fire in a Gangneung motel, firefighters discovered a room filled with computer hardware set to “mine” Bitcoin around the clock – one creative way of making money in a region that is far from any industrial centre. (Speculation over cryptocurrencies caused the government last month to strip Bitcoin trade here of its much-valued anonymity.)

Fires, meanwhile, are becoming frequent. In January one killed 37 people in a hospital in Miryang, while in December another killed 29 in a sports centre in Jecheon – a scheduled stop on the 2018 Olympic torch relay, until the tragedy forced organisers to revise the route.

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What’s next for the city?

The so-called “KTX era” will see Gangneung’s ties with the rest of the country strengthened. Visitors from Seoul – the most Starbucks-heavy city per capita in the world – can now easily take a day trip to find out what makes Gangneung the spiritual home of the Korean coffee craze. The city boasts the original roastery of national chain Terarosa, as well as a bustling beachside “coffee street”. So perhaps – like the former film-industry professionals who started the popular coffee shop and gallery BonBon Roastery – they’ll end up staying and laying the foundation for Gangneung’s next cultural scene.

Close zoom

For striking visual coverage of everything from the sunrises on Gangneung’s beaches to the sea creatures at its markets, explore the Gangneung work of American expatriate photographer Robert Koehler. Korean-language coverage of local issues can be found at Gangneung News.

Do you live in Gangneung? What key facts, figures and cultural highlights have we missed? Share your stories below

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