In February 1998, Korea became the 20th country in the world to host a World Cup race when a men's GS and a slalom took place in Yong Pyong a week after the Winter Olympics at Nagano. The Chairman of that event, Mr. Lee, a top manager in the powerful Sanyyong business group (one of the world's largest producer of cement ), tried to host this event for years after organizing numerous Continental Cup races. Situated 250 km north east from Seoul near the border with North-Korea, Yong Pyong is the largest of the ten major ski areas of the country. It's a beautiful and large all-season resort which attracts many visitors from the Far-East including Australia and New Zealand to enjoy the warm hospitality of the Korean people. The area can host 8,000 people in several nice hotels and condominiums - yet often there are over 20,000 skiers on the hills during the day and under the lights.
Golfing and hiking are popular activities there in the summertime, and skiing is excellent through early March. A variety of runs spread over three mountains are served by a dozen ski-lifts and gondolas that are rated from easy to more difficult. The newly created World Cup slopes designed by the 1972 Downhill Olympic Champion Bernhard Russi have some challenging terrain which favored good technicians like Switzerland's Michael von Grunigen and Norway's Ole Kristian Furuseth in 1998.