South Korea Eyes First Multiple Medals in Skiing, Snowboarding at Milan-Cortina 2026 South Korea are aiming for a first-ever multiple-medal haul in Olympic skiing and snowboarding at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Games.   Kim Sang-gyeom of High1 won silver in the men’s snowboard parallel giant slalom on Saturday (local time) at Livigno Snow Park in Italy, giving South Korea their second Olympic medal in skiing and snowboarding.  It was the first medal for South Korea in those sports in eight years, after Lee Sang-ho won silver in the same event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, the country’s first podium finish in 58 years of Olympic participation. Lee, initially seen as the top medal hope, was eliminated in the round of 16, but Kim’s runner-up finish lifted the team’s outlook for the remaining events.  With more events ahead, South Korea are now looking to win at least two medals in skiing and snowboarding at a single Olympics for the first time. Several athletes born in the 2000s are set to compete across multiple disciplines. Snowboard halfpipe qualifying begins Tuesday. The event is judged on aerial tricks performed on a sloped, half-cylinder course. While it has long featured global stars such as Shaun White and Chloe Kim of the United States, South Korea’s Choi Ga-on of Sehwa High School and Lee Chae-woon of Kyung Hee University have recently shown promise internationally.  Choi has won three International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) World Cup events this season and is leading the women’s halfpipe standings, making her a gold-medal contender.  Lee has dealt with injuries, but he won men’s halfpipe gold at the 2023 world championships as the youngest champion and won slopestyle at last year’s Harbin Asian Winter Games.  In snowboard big air, Yoo Seung-eun of Seongbok High School took silver in an FIS Snowboard World Cup event in December in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He was the first South Korean to reach the podium in World Cup big air.  South Korea also see medal potential in freestyle ski halfpipe, with Lee Seung-hoon of Korea National Sport University, the gold medalist at last year’s Harbin Asian Winter Games, competing in the event.  Men’s freestyle ski moguls is another target. Qualifying begins Monday. Moguls features a course covered with roughly 1-meter-high bumps, with athletes racing downhill and performing aerial spins off jumps. Jung Dae-yoon of the Seoul Ski Association, who has earned podium finishes at the world championships and World Cup, is seeking South Korea’s first Olympic medal in freestyle skiing. The Games also include dual moguls, in which two skiers race head-to-head, and Jung is also in contention there, with that event scheduled for Feb. 15.    * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-09 02:54:00

South Korea’s Lee Jae Myung Congratulates Snowboarder Kim Sang-gyeom on First Milan 2026 Medal President Lee Jae Myung congratulated South Korean snowboarder Kim Sang-gyeom after Kim won the nation’s first medal of the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics.  In a message posted Monday on social media, Lee said South Korea’s first medal of the Games had been secured and offered his congratulations to Kim for taking silver in the men’s parallel giant slalom.  Lee said Kim had spent years training for races decided by fractions of a second, refining his technique and tuning his equipment on harsh snow. He added that Kim reached the Olympic podium on his fourth attempt since the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.  Lee called the result especially meaningful because it was South Korea’s 400th Olympic medal. He also said it was the country’s second silver medal in snow events, showing South Korea are becoming competitive beyond ice sports.  On Sunday in South Korea, Kim won silver at the Livigno Snow Park in Italy, finishing 0.19 seconds behind Benjamin Karl of Austria in the final.  It was South Korea’s first medal of the Games and the country’s second Olympic medal in skiing and snowboarding, the first in eight years. Lee said Kim’s medal would give the entire South Korean team courage and confidence as more athletes compete. He added that he would join the public in cheering for South Korea through the final day of the Olympics. * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-09 01:27:00

South Korea’s Kim Sang-gyeom wins Olympic silver in men’s parallel giant slalom South Korea snowboarder Kim Sang-gyeom, 37, won a breakthrough Olympic silver medal in his fourth Games, delivering the country’s first medal of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and its 400th Olympic medal overall. After the race, he bowed deeply on the podium toward the crowd and viewers back home. Kim, who competes for High1, finished second in the men’s parallel giant slalom final on Feb. 8 (Korea time) at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, in Italy’s Sondrio province. He lost by 0.19 seconds to Austria’s Benjamin Karl. Kim jumped out to an early lead off the start but slipped slightly midway through the run, allowing Karl to close. Kim surged late and narrowed the gap, but he crossed the line just behind Karl to take silver. The medal carried added significance for South Korea. Entering the Games, the country had 320 Summer Olympic medals and 79 Winter Olympic medals; Kim’s silver brought the Winter total to 80 and the overall total to 400. In snow events, it was South Korea’s first Olympic medal in eight years, and the second in its history, since Lee Sang-ho won silver at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. At the medal ceremony, Kim bowed deeply before putting on his medal, a gesture of thanks to supporters. He is part of the first generation of South Korean snowboarders to reach the Olympics, having made his Olympic debut at the 2014 Sochi Games. Kim advanced to the knockout rounds after placing eighth in qualifying. In the quarterfinals, he upset world No. 1 Roland Fischnaller of Italy on his way to his first Olympic medal at age 37.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-09 00:48:00

South Korea’s Lee Jun-seo Finishes 58th in Olympic Skiathlon as Norway’s Klaebo Wins Gold South Korea’s Lee Jun-seo of Gyeonggi Provincial Government finished 58th in the men’s 10 km + 10 km skiathlon at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, while Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won his sixth career Olympic gold medal. Lee posted 53 minutes, 39 seconds in the race held on Feb. 8 (Korea time) at the cross-country stadium in Tesero, Italy. The skiathlon combines two cross-country techniques: classic and freestyle. Athletes race the first half in classic style, then switch to freestyle at the midpoint. Competing in his first Olympics, Lee had aimed for a top-50 finish but fell short. He did, however, complete the race without being lapped and eliminated under the event’s lap rule. Klaebo won in 46:11, finishing 7 minutes, 28 seconds ahead of Lee. After taking three gold medals at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and two golds at the 2022 Beijing Games, he opened this Olympics by adding another title. Klaebo stayed near the front early, slipped to fourth in the middle stages, then surged late to secure the win. Biathlon great Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and cross-country standouts Bjoern Daehlie and Marit Bjoergen each have eight career Olympic gold medals; Klaebo would tie them with two more. Mathis Desloges of France took silver in 46:13, and Norway’s Martin Loewstroem Nyenget won bronze in 46:13.1. * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-09 00:33:00

South Korea to Open Modern-Era Texts and Folk Painting Data for AI Training The South Korean government is accelerating efforts to build high-quality training data for the artificial intelligence industry, starting with texts that can be used without copyright concerns.  The National Library of Korea said on Saturday it will open a new section on its website, called “Shared Bookshelf,” around March to provide text data that private companies can freely use for AI development.  A library official said the institution rebuilt its digitized holdings into formats suitable for AI training, such as text files, focusing on materials with resolved copyright issues. The official added the data could be opened as early as March.  The release will be limited to publications issued in South Korea, mostly from the modern era. The collection will center on works whose copyright protection has expired or materials published by the library itself. Under South Korea’s Copyright Act, protection lasts 70 years after an author’s death, and many works from the early 1900s are expected to be included. The official said the main categories will include modern-era magazines and literature, classical literature and textbooks. The data will also be provided to the Ministry of Science and ICT’s “Independent AI Foundation Model Project.” The term refers to general-purpose AI models trained and operated directly using domestic technology and resources. Major national libraries overseas are also moving to build and open AI training data. Sweden’s National Library, which opened in 1661, has used text accumulated over about 500 years — including medieval manuscripts — to build more than 20 open-source transformer models through an affiliated research institute. Up to 200,000 developers a month are known to use them for research and technology development. The government is also speeding up work on image datasets. The Korea Heritage Service Foundation, an affiliate of the Korea Heritage Service, said it has prepared high-quality training data designed to capture the distinct characteristics of traditional Korean folk paintings through its “Korean Traditional Minhwa Production Data Project.” Existing generative AI models have had limits, including distorting or inaccurately depicting minhwa styles and motifs. The dataset includes 3,779 minhwa images by genre — such as flower-and-bird paintings, landscapes, tiger-and-magpie paintings and bookshelf paintings — along with 5,340 detailed description images and 77,388 Korean-English multimodal caption entries. The foundation defined multimodal caption data as training data that combines images with artwork information so AI can understand, generate and describe them in language. It said it thoroughly verified artists’ time periods and iconography systems, based on collections including those of the Gahoe Museum of Minhwa. The foundation said the dataset is expected to be used in areas including industrial design and product development such as goods, digital content and media art, and global promotion. The minhwa data will be fully opened on AI Hub in the first half of this year.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-09 00:03:33

Audiobook Market Expands as Korean Retailers Add Full Casts and AI Narration The audiobook market — “reading” with your ears — is growing quickly. Major online bookstores are racing to secure an early lead, producing titles with dozens of voice actors for drama-like immersion while also using artificial intelligence to shorten production time. According to the online bookstore industry on Feb. 8, the number of audiobook users has continued to rise each year as listeners can play them regardless of time or place. At Yes24, the number of members who bought audiobooks in 2025 rose 25% from the previous year, continuing annual growth. By age, people in their 40s accounted for 35% of audiobook purchases last year, standing out as the biggest group. Teen buyers also increased, with the purchase share rising from 0.2% in 2023 to 0.3% in 2024 and 0.9% in 2025. A key advantage of audiobooks is multitasking. People can listen while driving, working out or walking a pet. Jang Seon Young, 40, who lives in Incheon, said, “With print books or e-books, it’s hard to do other things while reading.” She added, “With audiobooks, I can play them like the radio on my commute or while doing housework, so it doesn’t feel like a burden.” Production methods are also diversifying, including the use of AI. Yes24 plans to launch AI audiobooks this month. Lee Seok Young, a manager on Yes24’s eBook team, said the company last year introduced an AI text-to-speech feature that lets users listen to more than 1 million e-books with AI voices. He said Yes24 is preparing to launch AI audiobooks using AI narration within February. He said the AI “adjusts breathing and speed like a real person and reads naturally by reflecting meaning and flow,” adding that shorter production times could broaden the range of available audiobooks. More than 20 voice actors took part in Millie’s Library’s exclusive audio web novel “Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint.” Users have responded with comments such as, “I got chills as soon as I heard the voice,” and “The background music and sound effects are really good.” A Millie’s Library official said novels with fast-moving plots are produced with multiple voice actors and that the company is focusing on improving quality so listeners can immerse themselves more deeply. Interest in novels also rose after Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in literature, which the Millie’s Library official said has helped boost engagement with audiobooks. “Audiobooks also move in step with trends in print books and e-books,” the official said, adding that the company is increasing planning for related content as interest grows in literary works such as novels and essays. Still, some in the industry expect AI adoption to be difficult. A publishing industry official said producing AI-based audiobooks requires consultation with original authors, which can take significant time, and that debate continues over the possibility that content could be used for AI training. Even so, the expansion of the audiobook market appears hard to reverse. Spotify said its audiobook users last year increased about 40% from the previous year. Spotify is also pushing to add a print-book sales service in its app, challenging major bookstores such as Amazon. In Japan, which experienced population aging earlier than South Korea, demand for audiobooks has increased mainly among people 50 and older due to issues such as declining eyesight, supporting expectations for further market growth. 2026-02-09 00:03:00

Kim Sang-gyeom wins snowboard silver, South Korea’s first medal at Milan-Cortina 2026 South Korean alpine snowboard veteran Kim Sang-gyeom (High1) won his country’s first medal of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, taking silver in the men’s parallel giant slalom. Kim finished second in the final on Feb. 8 at Livigno Snow Park in Italy, losing to Austria’s Benjamin Karl by 0.19 seconds. It marked South Korea’s first Olympic medal in skiing and snowboarding since Lee Sang-ho (Nexen Wingard) won silver in the same event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Kim’s result also made him the winner of South Korea’s 400th Olympic medal across the Summer and Winter Games. Kim advanced to the round of 16 after placing eighth in qualifying with a combined time of 1 minute, 27.18 seconds over two runs. The knockout rounds were decided in single-elimination races from the round of 16 through the final. In the round of 16, Kim trailed Slovenia’s Zan Kosir until Kosir fell midrace. In the quarterfinals, Italy’s Roland Fischnaller — the top-ranked rider in this season’s International Ski and Snowboard Federation World Cup parallel giant slalom standings — went off course late, sending Kim through. Kim then beat Bulgaria’s Tervel Zamfirov by 0.23 seconds in the semifinals. Lee, a medal contender, was eliminated in the round of 16, losing to Austria’s Andreas Prommegger by 0.17 seconds. Lee qualified sixth and led early before being passed after the midway point. 2026-02-08 23:06:00

Snowboarder Kim Sang-gyeom clinches silver, South Korea’s 400th Olympic medal * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-08 22:30:00

Snowboarder Lee Sang-ho Eliminated in Round of 16 at Milan-Cortina Olympics; Kim Sang-gyeom Reaches Semifinals South Korea had mixed results in the men’s snowboard parallel giant slalom at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics, with Lee Sang-ho (Nexen Wingard) eliminated in the round of 16 and Kim Sang-gyeom (High1) advancing to the semifinals. Lee lost to Austria’s Andreas Prommegger by 0.17 seconds in the round of 16 on Feb. 8 (local time) at Livigno Snow Park in Italy. In parallel giant slalom, two riders race side by side. The top 16 from qualifying advance to a single-elimination bracket to decide the final standings. Lee reached the knockout round after placing sixth in qualifying with a combined time of 1 minute, 26.74 seconds across two runs. But he could not hold an early edge against Prommegger, a 1980-born veteran who qualified 11th. Lee won silver in the event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, South Korea’s first Olympic medal in skiing and snowboarding. After a quarterfinal exit at the Beijing Games, he again fell short of the podium, ending his third Olympic campaign. Kim advanced to the quarterfinals when Slovenia’s Zan Kosir fell during their round-of-16 race. Kim then beat Italy’s Roland Fischnaller in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals. * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-08 22:09:00

Lindsey Vonn Crashes in Olympic Downhill After Returning From ACL Tear Alpine skiing star Lindsey Vonn of the United States, who chose to compete at the Olympics despite being diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, crashed during the race and was airlifted to a hospital by medical helicopter. Vonn failed to finish the women’s downhill at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Saturday (local time) at the Tofane Alpine Ski Center in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, after an early accident. Starting 13th, Vonn struck a gate in the opening section, lost her balance and fell. She remained down for a time before on-site medical staff assessed her and called a medical helicopter to take her to a hospital. Athletes and spectators at the venue watched the crash on the video board. U.S. skier Breezy Johnson, who was leading at the time, was seen covering her face. Vonn is one of the sport’s top downhill racers. She won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. She retired in 2019 but returned ahead of the 2024-2025 season to prepare for these Olympics. She remained competitive after her comeback, posting two wins, two runner-up finishes and three third-place results on the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) World Cup circuit this season. But on Jan. 30, she injured her left knee on a jump landing at a World Cup event in Switzerland and was diagnosed with a torn ACL. Despite the injury, she opted to compete at the Olympics and completed local training as scheduled, but her race ended with Saturday’s crash.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-08 20:42:00