PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Shortly after 11 a.m. for the last several days, Sung Baik-yoo, the chief spokesman for the organizers of the 2018 Winter Olympics, has leaned into a microphone at a news conference and provided a ticket sales update. The news is always a little more positive than the day before.
By Thursday, Sung said organizers were within one percent of their target of 90 percent sold out, a figure that equals about one million tickets sold. Yet the scene at venues here in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from the ski slopes in the mountain cluster to the ice sports stadiums of Olympic Park, tells a story far different from Sung’s pronouncements of success.