PyeongChang organizers (POCOG) said on Monday that South Korea's Samsung Group has signed a 100B won ($92.2M) local sponsorship contract to support the 2018 Winter Games, according to Peter Rutherford of REUTERS. Sponsors had initially been "slow to come forward" for PyeongChang, prompting the Korean government to "urge business leaders to support the Games," but POCOG said that with Samsung's involvement it had achieved more than 40% of its target. Samsung, which extended its TOP sponsorship contract as a worldwide IOC partner last year, will "provide assistance across a variety of business areas" in the run-up to Asia's first Winter Olympics outside Japan. It first "signed up as a TOP sponsor with the IOC" in '98 and was also a local sponsor at the 1988 Seoul Olympics (REUTERS, 4/6). The AP reported PyeongChang organizing committee President Cho Yang-ho said, "We've got a fresh strength. ... It's certain the games would be successfully hosted." The statement said the committee has now "signed six domestic sponsorship programs and achieved 41 percent of its sponsorship target." The six companies "include Korean Air, South Korea's largest airline." Cho is chairman of Korean Air (AP, 4/6).
