There are fears that the situation could escalate after the North bombed an island owned by the South on Tuesday (November 23), killing four people, which prompted retaliatory fire from their neighbours.

Earlier today North Korea staged an artillery firing drill near the South Korean border and warned that planned United States-South Korean naval exercises planned for this weekend would bring the peninsula closer to war.

The incidents overshadowed the latest presentation by Pyeongchang to the European Olympic Committees here today.

Yang Ho Cho, the chairman and chief executive of Pyeongchang 2018, did not refer to the incident during his presentation and insisted afterwards that it would not impact on their chances against European rivals Annecy and Munich.

"We have lived with the tensions for 60 years, but it has not harmed our ability to stage big events," he said.

"We had the success of hosting the Summer Olympics in 1988 [in Seoul], the 2002 FIFA World Cup and recently the G20 summit.

"So we have full confidence we are going to have a successful and peaceful Games for 2018 if we have the honour to host the Games.

"The South Korean Government will ensure that the 2018 Winter Games are safe and secure."

Today was the third opportunity for the bidding cities to present their cases to the Olympic Movement following the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOCs) in Acapulco and the Olympic Council of Asia in Guangzhou.

Pyeongchang's message of "New Horizons" before 15 members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was designed to counter the claims from their rivals that Europe is the cradle of winter sports and continue to be at their heart.

Munich, especially, continued to push its core message that hosting the Games there would ensure full stadiums and help continue the growth of winter sports.

"Our plan for the Games will produce what every athlete on an Olympic team wants - the experience of a lifetime in an atmosphere of unparalleled excitement," said Thomas Bach, the President of the German Olympic Sport Confederation (DOSB) and vice-president of the IOC.

But Cho claimed that Asia deserved another opportunity to host the Winter Games, having staged them only twice since they were first held in 1924.

"We are delighted to take our unique message to Europe and highlight the benefits of new growth and new potential that a Winter Games in Pyeongchang will bring," he said.

"We can take Olympism to a new part of the world and help winter sports thrive by building on the great experience in Europe, and combine it with Korea's new economic, cultural and sporting dynamism.

"Our simple vision for 2018, expressed as 'New Horizons', shows that we want to help promote and grow winter sport to a new audience and a new generation, leaving a lasting legacy that will benefit the Olympic Movement like never before."

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