The opening of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, a festival of peace, harmony and prosperity of people around the world, is just 11 days away.

The PyeongChang Winter Olympics is expected to bring together 2,943 athletes from 92 countries. In terms of scale, it will become the largest-ever Winter Olympics.

There are many world leaders, including heads of state, planning on visiting Korea during the Pyeong Chang Games. As of today, 26 such foreign guests from 21 countries have been confirmed for a visit. Especially, 16 of them will attend the opening ceremony to celebrate the start of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

Following are 21 head-of-state level guests to visit Korea on the occasion of the PyeongChang Olympics:

First, making an official visit to Korea are German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Slovenian President Borut Pahor and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Along with four European leaders, including Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden and Prime Minister Juha Sipilä of Finland, Governor-General of Canada Julie Payette is also scheduled to visit Korea. 

In addition, President Alain Berset of the Swiss Confederation, which is a winter sports powerhouse in central Europe, President Andrzej Duda of Poland, President Andrej Kiska of Slovakia, Prime Minister Adrian Hasler of Liechtenstein are planned to pay a visit to Korea. From the Baltic States which are commemorating the 100th anniversary of independence this year, President Dalia Grybauskaitė of Lithuania, President Kersti Kaljulaid of Estonia and President Raimonds Vējonis of Latvia will visit for the Games. 

Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, who is an IOC member, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Prince Albert II of Monaco are also schduled to participate in the opening ceremony of the Games. 

From the four major powers involved in issues regarding the Korean Peninsula, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will visit Korea during the PyeongChang Olympics. From China, Han Zheng, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), will make a visit to Korea as a special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Korean Government is hoping that pending issues between Russia and the International Olympic Committee would be smoothly resolved and senior officials from Russia would be able to visit Korea. 

The PyeongChang Olympics is expected to be the stage for summit-level multilateral diplomacy taking place for the first time in Korea since the Moon Jae-in Administration was launched. To this end, President Moon is scheduled to host a reception for visiting heads of state or government and other VIPs ahead of the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympics on Friday, February 9. President Moon is also expected to have a luncheon, dinner or summit meeting with 14 heads of state or government and top leaders, including from Germany, Slovenia and the United Nations, all of whom are on official visits. They will have in-depth discussions on issues of mutual interest and ways to enhance substantive cooperation.