South Korea's sports ministry said Friday that Bokwang Phoenix Park will be used for the snowboarding and freestyle skiing competitions at the 2018 Winter Olympics after the venue operators and Games organizers "met to hammer out their differences," according to Peter Rutherford of REUTERS. Talks on using the venue had "stalled amid disagreements over fees" but Minister for Culture, Sport & Tourism Kim Jong-deok said at a briefing that the issues "had been resolved." Kim also "moved again to dismiss speculation that some events could be switched away from Pyeongchang and Gangwon Province in a bid to cut costs." Kim "declined to reveal" what the cost of using the venue would be, but said the ministry "had tried to keep expenses for the taxpayer down and that Bokwang had made some sacrifices given that the Olympics were important for the whole country." PyeongChang Organizing Committee President Cho Yang-ho said earlier this week that "only a natural disaster could force them to think about sharing events," and Kim was "equally emphatic." Kim: "There will be no more discussions about co-hosting (events)" (REUTERS, 3/13).
