2018 Winter Olympic ceremonies to be held in Pyeongchang

Seoul, Oct 16 : The South Korean government announced Thursday that the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics will be held in the host city of Pyeongchang after organisers scrapped plans to stage the ceremonies in the neighbouring city of Gangneung.

The government and the 2018 Olympic organising committee had discussed earlier this week whether to renovate an existing sports stadium in Gangneung rather than build a new facility in Pyeongchang suitable for the ceremonies, reports Xinhua.

"The venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games will be built in Pyeongchang. After the Games, the relevant parties will discuss how to use the facility," a statement from the culture ministry said.

The new venue at Pyeongchang will have a capacity of 40,000.