Honorary Ambassador Kim Yu-na, right, and Do Jong-hwan carry the Olympic flame at the Incheon International airport in Incheon, South Korea, on Nov 1, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

ATHENS - The flame burning for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics began its journey from Greece to South Korea on Tuesday after a touching handover ceremony held at the Panathenaic stadium in the center of Athens.

At the marble venue of the first modern Olympics in 1896, Hellenic Olympic Committee President Spyros Capralos passed the Sacred Flame to the President of the PyeongChang Games Organizing Committee Lee Hee-beom.

The South Korean delegation departed under the applause of thousands of Greek schoolchildren who attended the event along dignitaries braving the low temperatures.