Olympic flame arrives in Korea

The special plane carrying the Beijing Olympic flame arrived at Incheon International Airport in South Korea at 1:05 AM (12:05 AM Beijing Time) on the local time of the 27th. The Olympic flame will head to Seoul, the capital of South Korea, from here, beginning its 17th stop overseas.

The Air China "Olympic Flame" aircraft with the Beijing Olympics pattern painted on its body slowly came to a stop on the tarmac at Incheon International Airport. When Li Binghua, the Executive Vice President of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, who was holding the torch lantern, first stepped off the plane, he was warmly welcomed by Kim Sang-woo, Secretary General of the Korean Olympic Committee, Jeong Hyo-seong, Director of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Seoul, and Ning Fu-kui, Chinese Ambassador to South Korea.

Although it was in the early hours of the morning, when the team from the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay Operations walked into the airport lounge, more than 100 Chinese students from Seoul National University, holding national flags and welcome signs, cheered "China, go for it! Olympics, go for it!" to welcome the arrival of the flame. The torch relay in Seoul will take place in the afternoon of the 27th.

Seoul once hosted the 24th Summer Olympics in 1988.

According to reports, the South Korean police will deploy 8,287 police officers to provide protection for the torch relay, and send out more than 20 bicycle patrol officers and over 120 police officers who love marathons to guard the torch relay along the way. As of the time this reporter went to press, the relay route and the list of torchbearers have not been officially announced to the public.