With less than four months remaining until the opening ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games, "sluggish ticket sales and lodging reservations could spell trouble for Korea's first Winter Games." The PyeongChang Organizing Committee on Wednesday released preliminary numbers for ticket sales, which showed that 30.3% of 1.07 million tickets have been sold. About 20.7% of 760,000 tickets released to the Korean general public have been sold, while 59.7% of 320,000 tickets reserved for foreigners have been sold. Sales of tickets to the Paralympic Games are "even more dismal," with only 4.2% sold (KOREA HERALD, 10/11).
Japanese labor inspectors determined the suicide of a 23-year-old man who worked at Tokyo's new Olympic stadium construction site "stemmed from overwork," and that his family is "eligible for government compensation." Hiroshi Kawahito, a lawyer representing the bereaved family, said that the victim, in charge of quality control of materials at the stadium site, recorded 190 hours of overtime in one month before killing himself in March (London GUARDIAN, 10/11).
