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The Korean flag (태극기) is called "Taegeukgi" in Korean. Its design symbolizes the principles of the yin and yang in Oriental philosophy. The circle in the center of the Korean flag is divided into two equal parts. The upper red section represents the proactive cosmic forces of the yang. Conversely, the lower ...blue section represents the responsive cosmic forces of the yin. The two forces together embody the concepts of continual movement, balance and harmony that characterize the sphere of infinity. The circle is surrounded by four trigrams, one in each corner. Each trigram symbolizes one of the four universal elements: heaven (), earth (), fire (), and water ().

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Financial technology

Now that the work of bringing the 2018 Winter Olympics to Pyeongchang is complete, the national government and Gangwon are going full speed ahead to finish the infrastructure needed to host the Games.

Finishing sports venues

Pyeongchang has a...lready built seven venues over the city’s three consecutive attempts at securing the Olympics, but six more will have to be built or finished.

The Gangwon Provincial Government and the national government plan to inject 540 billion won ($508 million) into building new venues and renovating existing ones before the Games kick off in February 2018.

The Pyeongchang Olympics will have two main clusters: the Alpensia Cluster for snow events and the Coastal Cluster for ice events.

The two areas will be supported by two ski resorts - Jungbong Ski Slope and Bokwang Phoenix Park, both of which are within half an hour from Alpensia Resort, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies.

Jungbong Ski Slope and Gyeongpo Ice Hall Arena are set to be completed by November 2012, according to the bid committee.

Meanwhile, the remaining four venues to be built - for ice hockey, speedskating and luge/bobsleigh/skeleton - are scheduled to be finished around 2016 along with noncompetition venues like the Olympic Villages and Media Village.

The Pyeongchang Olympics will be host to 86 events.

“Each venue has different conditions and a different building schedule, so it is difficult to give exact dates of completion,” said Jeong Hong-sub from the bid committee.

“But we know that it needs to be done at least a year before the Winter Olympics starts.”

After the end of the Winter Games, the bid committee said most of the facilities in the Coastal Cluster in Gangneung will be used as public sports facilities, while the venues in Alpensia will be used for concerts and off-season sports.

Improving roads and rails

The government will also make large investments to expand Gangwon’s transportation infrastructure to ensure easy access to and from Pyeongchang.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance announced yesterday that the spending will be reflected in the government’s budget.

“We have planned out the fiscal management of the next five years by taking the hosting of the Winter Olympics into consideration,” Kim Dong-yeon, director of the ministry’s budget affairs, said.

The government said it expects to spend a total of 5.4 trillion won on transportation infrastructure.

A total of 15 transportation infrastructure projects are in progress or planned, including a high-speed railroad that will take people from Incheon International Airport to Pyeongchang in about an hour.

A 113-kilometer double-track rail line stretching from Wonju to Gangneung will be constructed by 2016.

Moreover, a second Yeongdong Expressway will be built, connecting Gwangju in Gyeonggi to Wonju in Gangwon.

The expressway is to be completed in 2015, cutting the drive from Seoul to Wonju to an hour.

The Dongseo Expressway is currently under construction as well, which is an expansion of the Seoul-Chuncheon Expressway that opened in 2009.

The new highway will stretch all the way to Yangyang in Gangwon, cutting travel time from there to Seoul to just one and a half hours.