Olympic torch touches down in Korea ahead of Gangwon Games

The Olympic flame arrived by plane in Korea on Sunday and was transported to the Daegwallyeong Fire House in Gangwon in preparation for the torch relay for the 2024 Gangwon Youth Olympics.

2024 Gangwon Youth Olympics Organizing Committee Cochairperson Jin Jong-oh carries the Olympic flame under police escort out of Incheon International Airport in Incheon on Sunday. [GANGWON YOUTH OLYMPICS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE]

The Olympic flame arrived by plane in Korea on Sunday and was transported to the Daegwallyeong Fire House in Gangwon in preparation for the torch relay for the 2024 Gangwon Youth Olympics.

The Olympic flame touched down at Incheon International Airport in Incheon at 11:35 a.m. on Sunday after traveling from Greece with cochairman of the Gangwon Olympic Games Organizing Committee Jin Jong-oh.

It was originally handed over to Gangwon 2024 organizers at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens in a ceremony on Tuesday last week.

The Olympic flame is lit at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on Tuesday using the sun's rays and then passed to the official torch for the 2024 Gangwon Youth Olympics. [HELLENIC OLYMPIC COMMITTEE]

The flame, currently in a safety lamp for travel purposes, left Incheon by road with a police escort, arriving in Daegwallyeong Village in the east of Gangwon in the midafternoon. Possession of the torch was transferred to the local fire service, which is charged with keeping it safe and aflame.

“Firefighters normally have to fight fire,” Kim Yong-han, chief of the Pyeonchang County Fire Department, said in a press release. “But we are very happy to be able to participate in the 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics by protecting and managing the torch.”

Kim and the Daegwallyeong Fire House do not have to guard the flame for long. On Oct. 11, 100 days before the Gangwon Games are set to begin, the flame will head back west to Seoul for a ceremony at Seoul Plaza in central Seoul to kick off the start of a nationwide torch relay.

The 2024 Gangwon Youth Olympics will kick off in Gangwon on Jan. 19, with events running through to Feb. 1. Like the 2018, PyeongChang Winter Olympics, events will be held across Gangwon province, with ice events on the east coast in Gangneung and snow events spread throughout the mountains.

A total of 1,900 athletes from 70 countries are expected to compete in the Games, with 81 medals on the line across 15 different events.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]