S. Korea opens hospitality house for Tokyo Olympics online due to coronavirus pandemic
Tokyo Olympics-hospitality house
SEOUL, July 15 (Yonhap) — South Korea opened an online hospitality house for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics amid on-site restrictions stemming from the new coronavirus pandemic, sports authorities said Thursday.
The online Team Korea House (www.teamkoreahouse.com) will welcome visitors from Thursday to Aug. 8, to share news on Korean athletes’ performances as well as information about Seoul during the Summer Olympics, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee.
“We decided to run our Olympic hospitality house online to help more people from here and abroad enjoy the Korean culture and cheer for our athletes,” the culture ministry said, adding that it has become difficult to run a physical house in Tokyo due to a spike in COVID-19 cases there.’
The website, themed on hanok, or a traditional Korean house, offers various information about South Korea, including the history of its Olympic athletes, K-pop and travel, using virtual reality (VR) technology. Game schedules and news on South Korean Olympians will also be updated throughout the Summer Games, which will take place from July 23 to Aug. 8.
There is also a metaverse section where visitors can try out different types of Olympic sports through digital avatars. The shared virtual space has been created in collaboration with Naver Z Corp., the operator of the popular metaverse platform Zepeto.
nyway@yna.co.kr
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