Anchor: Some five-thousand leading mathematicians are coming to South Korea for the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) opening in Seoul on Wednesday.
Our Kim Soyon has more on the Seoul ICM 2014, the world's largest congress in the math community. 
 
Report: The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) 2014 will be held under the theme "Dreams and Hopes for Late Starters" at COEX in southern Seoul from August 13 to 21. 
 
Some five-thousand mathematicians from 120 countries will take part in the world's biggest gathering of mathematicians.
 
The Fields Medal, regarded as “the Nobel Prize of mathematics,” will be awarded during the opening ceremony of the congress.
 
The Fields Medal, which was introduced in 1936 to commemorate the distinguished Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields, is given to scholars under 40 with exceptional accomplishments. 
 
Typically two to four medals are granted during a congress held every four years. At the Seoul congress, four Fields Medals will be bestowed.
 
The winners are kept under a strict veil of secrecy according to the event's tradition of announcing them during the opening ceremony.
 
Amid the secrecy, math fans vote for their favorite candidates at the online polling site Poll Code. 
 
Leading names speculated to be this year's winners include Princeton University professor Manjul Bhargava, Paris-6 University professor Artur Avila, and Stanford University professor Maryam Mirzakhani.
 
While no Koreans have yet received the prestigious medal, Professor Hwang Jun-muk at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study will be the first Korean ever to give a keynote speech at the congress. 
Kim Soyon, KBS World Radio News.