Kim Jin-gon, Minister-Counselor of the Embassy of the ROK in China.(PHOTO: S&T Daily)

By QI Liming

    With the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics just around the corner, Science and Technology Daily spoke to Kim Jin-gon, Minister-Counselor of the Embassy of the ROK in China and Director of the Korean Cultural Centre, China,  to get his views on the global event.

    Kim said that upholding the ideas of "Green Olympics" and "High -tech Olympics," Beijing will host a spectacular Winter Olympics. According to Kim, the premier winter sports event can be seen from three perspectives.

    Firstly, "Green Olympics" is in tune with global trends. Kim said that sports, culture and environment have been the three pillars of the modern Olympic spirit, and the International Olympic Committee has made it clear that the Olympic games should fully promote the cause of global sustainable development and environmental protection.

    The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is committed to the modern Olympic spirit. It upholds the concept of green, sharing, open and non-corrupt.

    "In March 2021, I was invited to visit the athletes' village in Yanqing District, Beijing. I was impressed that native trees are kept and protected among the buildings. This is enough to prove that the organizers of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics paid special attention to details on environmental protection," said Kim.

    Secondly, high-tech achievements make the Olympics more exciting. Kim said that China has considerable strength in high-tech, and will surely demonstrate its latest technological achievements to the world through the opening and closing ceremonies, such as the technological innovation of the stadium system's operation and management.

    He also appreciated China's active use of information technology, such as big data in pandemic prevention. Mini APPs such as Health Kit (Jiankang Bao) may seem simple, but they can be very useful in trace tracking of COVID-19.

    Although Beijing faces many challenges in hosting the Winter Olympics against the background of COVID-19, Kim said it is also a good opportunity to demonstrate China's pandemic prevention measures to the world. In particularly, many delegations may not have been exposed to the application of big data in the epidemic prevention process, so China can share its experience at the event.

    Thirdly, Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is also an important opportunity to promote cultural exchanges. Kim said, "When watching the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, there was an eight-minute show presented by Beijing. It showed the rich traditional Chinese culture and achievements of development in the new era, performed jointly by Chinese teenagers and robots. This eight -minute performance left a deep impression on the whole world."

    Kim suggested that while China is focusing on the spread of traditional culture, it can also invest more in areas of interest to young people and present more modern things. "The Winter Olympics has given China a good opportunity to show the soft power of culture," he said, adding, "I am looking forward to seeing the wonderful performances of both traditional and modern Chinese culture at the opening and closing ceremonies in Beijing."