Pyeongchang County's top official says that residents must not give up their goal of hosting the Winter Olympics despite two failed attempts.

In a letter addressed to 18-thousand-411 households in the county in mountainous Gangwon province, administrator Kwon Hyuk-seung said that past efforts should not go to waste because of the defeats.

Kwon, who has held the top elected post in Pyeongchang since 1998, said talks must be pursued with the central government, the Korean Olympic Committee and Gangwon Province residents, hinting that another bid is possible.

He said that while Pyeongchang received the highest marks of the three candidate regions, in preparedness and presentation, what he described as "international politics" affected the results.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a determined push to hold the games in Russia, impressing International Olympic Committee (IOC) members in Guatemala City with a multilingual pitch in English, French and Spanish.

On July fourth, Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi beat Pyeongchang to grab the right to host the 2014 Winter Games. The Korean city lost 51-to-47 in the second round of voting by the IOC. Austria's Salzburg was eliminated in the first round.

Pyeongchang had previously to Vancouver, Canada in its bid to host the 2010 Olympics.

Sports analysts said that Pyeongchang's defeat could be attributed to some extent to perceptions within the IOC that South Korea should not be given another sporting event after winning the right to host the 2011 World Athletics Championship and the 2014 Asian Games.