Core77

The capital of one of the Koreas (North or South, take a guess) has announced they'll be holding an annual global design conference, tentatively called the Design Olympics, starting in 2010.

Last week, the ICSID chose Seoul as the World Design Capital for 2010 in a campaign to promote and encourage the use of design to accelerate the social, economic and cultural development of the world's cities.

Seoul made the announcement for their planned event shortly after being selected. "The project is aimed at enhancing Seoul's brand image," said Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. "Design will be a driving force in developing Seoul's economy. Seoul has surprised the world with the 'Miracle of the Han River' and great information technology, but will now attract the world's attention with design."