René Fasel on Korea participating in the 2018 Olympics:
It’s the wish of the federation that the host team can participate in the Winter Olympics. That’s a goal and that’s why we are here but we have to be careful not to have lopsided results too. That’s a challenge especially if we have NHL players coming. There’s no sense for the Korean team to be in PyeongChang and lose 15-0 against Canada, the USA or Russia.
The Korean team is on a good road although people are disappointed they couldn’t perform as expected here but we will have meetings about that. Our recommendation to the Korean Ice Hockey Association for a free entry is that the men’s national team needs to be 18th or better in the World Ranking. But there are still different ways to go. They can go through the qualification or they could have a free entry. But they need to improve and present a program that can fit.
The road to PyeongChang is three-and-a-half years and it’s a challenge. We are here to do everything possible that Korea can compete. We have a good team with President [Mongwon] Chung. We are not there yet but they work very hard.
We need to have this discussion with the Koreans and the IOC and to discuss with the responsible people how we can improve Korean hockey. I’m confident that Korea will improve. You are fighters. But you need to work very hard. It’s not just for PyeongChang, Korea needs a 10-year program and now China is bidding for 2022 too. You need time to develop and time is flying so fast.

Read the entire transcript here.