14th Asian Games Opens for "One Asia, Global Busan"
- 38 sports to take place; 9,900 athletes and officials from 44 OCA member countries to participate in the Games from September 29 to October 14.

With the ideal of "New Vision, New Asia," and the motto of "One Asia, Global Busan," the 14th Asian Games will be held in the southeastern port city of Busan from September 29 to October 14 with about 9,900 athletes and officials from all of the 44 member countries of the Olympic Committee of Asia (OCA) attending. The Busan Asian Games Organizing Committee (BAGOC) invited North Korea to participate in the Games, and the North accepted. Chung Soon-taek is president of the BAGOC.
Observers say that North Korea's participation in the Busan Asian Games will contribute to inter-Korean cooperation and reconciliation. North Korea will dispatch a 318-member contingent to the Busan Asian Games.
A total of 38 sports will be held in Busan and its vicinity, including Ulsan, Changwon, Masan and Yangsan. They are athletics, swimming, archery, badminton, baseball, basketball, billiards, bodybuilding, bowling, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, kabaddi, karatedo, modern pentathlon, rowing, rugby, sailing, sepak takraw, shooting, softball, soft tennis, squash, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling and wushu.
The 120-minute opening ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. on September 29 at the Busan Asiad Main Stadium under the theme of a "Beautiful Meeting." A meeting between King Kim Suro of Korea's Gaya Kingdom and Huh Hwang-ok, an Indian, will be reenacted. This meeting is meant to symbolize the unity and hopes of 3.7 billion Asian people. World-renowned soprano Jo Su-mi will play the role of Huh Hwang-ok, the prima donna in the Beautiful Meeting to be presented during the opening ceremony. It consists of seven parts, including "Sun Rising" which celebrates the meeting between King Kim Suro and Huh Hwang-ok, "The Land of Morning Calm," "The Sound of Prosperity" and "One Asia."
The closing ceremony, a time to bid farewell with regret and the promise of a subsequent meeting, is designed to express Busan citizens' wish for all participants to make a safe and pleasant trip back to their homelands. The 80-minute closing ceremony will begin at 7 p.m. on October 14.
BAGOC launched an opening and closing ceremonies production team with 45 experts in related fields. Kim Jae-hyung of the SBS Production Committee, who is well-known for the TV dramas he produced, "Women's Power" and "Tears of the Dragon, is supervisor of the opening and closing ceremonies.
More than 9,700 people will perform in the opening and closing ceremonies, but about 1,400 of them, including members of the drum and fife bands and the emblem flag bearers play dual roles, which reduces the actual participants to 8,300. More than half of them are students from primary and high schools, and college students.
Cultural Asiad
The 16-day Busan Asian Games aims at Cultural Asiad. BAGOC and Busan Metropolitan City were jointly preparing an integrated festival of sport and cultural & art events in order to make this event an opportunity to enhance Korea's cultural identity.
Athletes' Village cultural events: A variety of programs will be presented to introduce traditional Korean culture to participating foreign athletes and officials, and to help promote goodwill and mutual friendship. The Athletes' Village officially opens on September 23, while the closing festival is slated for October 17 at the outdoor stage. "Everyday Festival" which features various genres such as folk art performances and jazz concerts will begin on September 30 to continue through October 13. Another attractive event will be "Gillori," a Korean folk play, that will be presented at 6 p.m. daily from September 30 through October around the Athletes' Village national flag square. Athletes and officials can experience various Korean folk plays such as "yutnori" or four-stick game and "jegichagi," a kind of shuttlecock game played with the feet, and taste traditional Korean dishes. In addition, three exhibition halls - the Folk Hall, Publicity Hall and Crafts Hall - as well as movie theaters will be in operation.
Cultural Festivals: Those cultural events are divided into five categories - International Events, Asian Exchange, Culture and Festivals of Busan, the host city, and Athletes' Village cultural events. The International Event will be held along with Busan's existing international events such as Busan Biennale, International Film Festival, Rock Festival and Ocean Festival. Asian Exchange includes Asian Week, Drama Festival, Short Film Festival and a Youth Camp. During the festival period, various large-scale performances that display Korean cultural standards will be presented. Among them are "Swan Lake" by National Ballet Company, "Chunhyang" by National Musical Company, a solo recital by soprano Shin Young-ok, "A Journey to the World of Opera Arias" under the baton of Geum Nan-sae, and "Ahn Trio Recital." In addition, the Korean Cultural Image Exhibition will be held from September 17 through November 10 at the Busan City Museum, while the International Mask Exhibition will take place from September 30 through October 13 at the Busan Olympic Park.
Apart from them, a total of 38 events will be held that show off the artistic aspects of Busan. They include two original performances - a musical "Wild Glass" written by Shin Tae-beom and produced by Yi Ki-won, and composite dance-drama "Express Huh" co-produced by the Society of Korean Dance and the Society of Korean Traditional Music. Others include: Traditional Folk Game Madang - This event will be held on Saturdays until October 26 at the Yongdusan Park Square. Programs include Dongnae Crane Dance on September 30, Suyeong Yaryu on October 5, Dongnae Crane Dance on October 12, Busan Farmers' Music, Suyeong Yaryu on October 19 and Dongnae Yaryu on October 26.
Korean Cultural Image Exhibition - The exhibit will be held at the Busan Museum until November 10. Among the exhibits are 10 symbolic images of Korean culture, including traditional costume, kimchi, mask dances and hangul or Korean alphabet. Admission is free.
Korean Traditional Tea Culture Exhibition - The event, which will be held at the Busan Women's College Tea Hall on September 28-October 14, features a demonstration of tea ceremony and provides people an opportunity to experience a tea ceremony.
International Mask Exhibition and Mask Dance Performance - This event will be held at the Olympic Park on September 30-October 6 to help promote understanding of Asian culture. On display are Korean masks and masks from other Asian countries. Lion Dance and Malddugi Dance from Suyeong Yaryu - Performances will be presented at the Yongdusan Park Square on September 30-October 4. Suyeong Yaryu has been designated as the Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 43. Traditional Food Exhibition - Exhibits include 200 kinds of Korean traditional food, including cookies, rice cakes, flower pancakes, taffy and watermelon pieces. The exhibit will be held at the Busan City Hall Exhibition Hall on October 4-6. Busan Jagalchi Festival - The festival will be held in the vicinity of Jagalchi Fish Market on October 9-13. Programs include jagalchi ajimae contest and a raw fish cutting contest. The sixth Busan Oryuk Islets UN Festival - Programs include Night of Korean War Veterans, Peace Parade, Family Singing Contest and UN Photo Exhibition. This festival will take place in front of the UN Memorial Park on October 24-27.
Other cultural events include a concert with a guest musician Yuhki Kuramoto at the Busan Cultural Center Grand Hall on October 2; Busan Phila Asiad 2002 at BEXCO on October 2-6; Gyeollyeon Taekgyeon Hanmadang at the Busan Democracy Park on October 5-13; 2002 Korean Classical Music, Jazz, Rock Festival at the Busan Cultural Center Grand Hall on October 6; Asia Water Painting Grand Exhibition at the Busan Citizens' Hall on October 7-12; Geumjeong Art Festival at the Geumjeong Cultural Center on October 7-14; 2002 Asian Games Congratulatory Korean Traditional Dress Fashion Show at the Busan Lotte Hotel on October 8; Seomyeon Culture and Art Festival in front of the Seomyeon Yeonggwang Bookstore on October 10-11, Installation Art Exhibition at the Busan Cultural Center on October 18-27; and the eighth Dongnae Chungryeol Festival in Dongnae-gu on October 19-20. The Main Media Center will be operated at the Busan Exhibition Convention Center (BEXCO) until October 16. It consists of the Main Press Center (MPC) and the International Broadcasting Center (IBC). The MPC and IBC, a place to provide convenience to people from Korean and foreign media organizations, can accommodate approximately 7,500 people. The Busan Asian Games Public Information Exhibition is located opposite to the Busan City Hall. The exhibition is composed of the Image Event Hall, History Hall, Harmony Hall, Challenge Hall, Conference Room and Internet Lounge. The Administrative Public Information Exhibition will be held daily on October 5-31. Public information officers are available at any time.
Environmentally friendly Asian Games
As part of efforts to make the Busan Asian Games an environmentally friendly international sport festival, BAGOC has published the "2002 Busan Asian Games Environment Guide." The publication was distributed to the stadiums and practicing facilities, as well as nearby cities, venues for the Games. The Busan Asiad Main Stadium, Sajik Swimming Pool and Gumjeong Gymnasium were built in such a way as to save energy. The water supply facilities have water-saving equipment. In addition to these, clean gas instead of chemical fuel was used as fuel of the sacred torch. The flame-folder in the Busan Asiad Main Stadium will be fueled with clean energy LPG (liquefied petroleum gas).
BAGOC will stage an environment campaign. For instance, the big electric sign says "Clean-up Time - clean up your surroundings." According to the sign saying and guidance broadcasting, the audience would clean up their surroundings. Gathered waste will be recycled. The sacred torch lighting ceremony took place on September 5. After the torch was lit, the torch relay began on September 7 at Imjingak in the truce village of Panmunjom. The sacred torch will be relayed to the final destination of Busan via 143 cities, guns (counties) and gus (wards) across the country. Thousands of people will relay the torch along a 4,195km-long route.
Regarding accommodations, BAGOC says that more than 5,400 excellent rooms are available at 90 hotels in the neighboring host cities as well as in Busan to provide visitors with the best services for a comfortable and secure stay. For everyone's convenience, a variety of accommodations are available - from super deluxe hotels to deluxe ones, and relatively inexpensive World Inn rooms. Home stays are available for those seeking a multi-cultural experience.
BAGOC says that hotels are assigned on the basis of whether "you are with a sports related family and wish to stay at the headquarters hotel, the umpire hotel, or media hotel, among others." For hotel reservations, please log on to www.busanhotel.org; call 82-51-637-7979; or e-mail to contact@busanhotel.org. For mid to low priced accommodations (motels, inns) reservations, please log on to www.worldinn.com; call 82-2-3279-5690; or e-mail to welcome@worldinn.com. To get tickets to the Games, BAGOC says the tickets are available at all branch offices of the Woori Bank (formerly Hanvit Bank); Ticket Offices of Ticket Link (www.asiad.ticketlink.co.kr); Information Center (call 1588-7890, no area code is required); On-site Ticket Office on the day of each game; and all district offices, county offices and city halls of Busan, Ulsan, Changwon, Masan and Yangsan. NW