Olympic flame being lit in Greece for Winter Games

Athens: South Korean PM Lee Nak-yeon was in the Greek capital as part of a visit that would see the Olympic flame being ignited in Olympia ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics. Lee Nak-yeon laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in central Syntagma Square on the morning, before meeting his counterpart Alexis Tsipras, as seen in photographs released by epa, reports Efe. The flame is to be lit on Tuesday in a symbolic act ahead of the Games set to take place in February 2018 in the northern South Korean county of PyeongChang, at a time of escalated tension with North Korea. Various high profile officials will attend the torch-lighting event, including Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach. Greek actress Katerina Lehou was set to reprise her role as high priestess during the ceremony as she had done for Rio 2016 and would pass the flame onto the first torchbearer; Greek cross-country ski champion Apostolos Angelis. South Korean former soccer player Park Ji-sung, who played for Manchester United, will become the second torchbearer as the flame is sent on a week-long tour of the European nation before being flown to South Korea on November 1 exactly 100 days before the Games start.