Olympic organisers destroy 'sacred' South Korean forest to create ski run

Green campaigners say recent removal of 500-year-old virgin forest is an ecological disaster and dismiss officials' 'patronising' offer to restore habitat

Campaigners in South Korea have accused organisers of the 2018 winter Olympics of destroying a "sacred" forest to make room for a ski slope, and dismissed official assurances that the site will be restored to its original state after the Games.

Environment groups say the recently-completed removal of tens of thousands of trees from the slopes of Mount Gariwang, including ancient and rare species, amounts to an ecological disaster.