1600 GMT: We're wrapping up this Live Report from the International Olympic Committee meeting in Durban after members selected the South Korean ski resort of Pyeongchang to host the 2018 Winter Games.

AFP will update coverage of the decision on its main news wires.

1549 GMT: German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle congratulates Pyeongchang but admits he is disappointed. He hopes for lots of German medals in 2018 as some kind of compensation.

1548 GMT: Munich in particular fought hard all the way believing that their professional and smooth campaign could deliver them victory.

However, despite the best efforts of German President Christian Wulff, German figure skating legend Katarina Witt and impressive paralympian Verena Bentele the dream as the president called it was to be left unfulfilled.

Annecy were never able to gather anything like enough momentum and while they showed a solid outward resilience their final presentation reflected the downbeat mood of the camp.

1546 GMT: South Korea's President Lee says: "I will make a good Olympics.".

"This is a victory for the Koreans, thank you to them," beams 69-year-old Lee, who puts his thumbs up in celebration

For Kim Jin-Seun the former Governor of Gangwon Province - who had led the previous two bids and now an ambassador of the 2018 bid - it was a hugely emotional moment.

"For 17 years I have had a really rough road, really hard," he says.

"I don't know what to say. I'm overwhelmed. I'm just very very happy."

1539 GMT: German President Christian Wulff congratulates Pyeongchang.

"We knew it would be very difficult. During the bid, Munich and Germany showed a friendly, open and sporting face. I thank all those who supported our candidacy with so much enthusiasm," he said from Durban by way of a statement issued by his office in Berlin.

1535 GMT: It is early Thursday now in Pyeongchang, but applause, music and fireworks light up the skiing resort as residents erupts in joy after their town was chosen to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.

"Yes! Pyeongchang" they shout, greeting the news from Durban, South Africa, that their town's bid -- the third in a row -- has won.

Some revellers in the resort dance to the beat of a traditional folk troupe. Others punch the air, shouting in jubilation.

1534 GMT: Tally of votes cast in Durban today for the hosting of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games:

Voters: 95 International Olympic Committee members

1st rd

Pyeongchang (KOR) 63

Munich (GER) 25

Annecy (FRA) 7

Votes cast 95

Pyeongchang win by majority of 48

1533 GMT: On the announcement from IOC president Jacques Rogge there was an eruption of joy from the South Korean delegation in the room while South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak walked along the stage where the IOC members sat and thanked them.

1529 GMT: AFP Sports looks at some of the South Korean candidate's main selling points:

- Seasoned campaigners in their third successive bid for the prize.

- Like defeated rivals Munich, there were no question marks over their ability to host the global showpiece, finance was no problem and the bid was environmentally sound too.

- Also a strong plus was that Asia has hosted the Winter Games only twice, both times in Japan and not since Nagano in 1998.

- The allure of opening up, as the IOC sees it, of a whole new financial goldmine in Asia.

- The Evaluation Commission's appraisal said: "Overall, the Commission believes the legacy from a 2018 Pyeongchang Games, building on existing legacies from previous Olympic Winter Games bids, would be significant to further develop winter sport in Asia."

1527 GMT: Marienplatz in Munich empties rapidly. Ditto the lakeside lawns at Annecy.

1522 GMT: For the South Korean candidate - who beat Germany's Munich and the French alpine town of Annecy - it was joy at last after the bitter disappointment of losing out to Vancouver for 2010 and the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi for the 2014 Games.

In doing so they delivered Asia their first ever Games outside of Japan and first since Nagano in 1998.

1521 GMT: Pyeongchang did it in style too as they needed just one round of voting by the 90+ International Olympic Committee (IOC) members eligible to vote to secure only the third Winter Games for Asia.

They are the first candidate since the now tarnished Salt Lake City in 1995 (for the 2002 Winter Games) to win in the first round for any Olympic bid.

1520 GMT: Pyeongchang will host the 2018 Winter Olympics after obtaining a first-round majority in the vote here on Wednesday, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge announced.

The South Korean venue beat off competition from Munich and Annecy.

1518 GMT: Pyeongchang will host the 2018 Winter Olympics

1518 GMT: Pyeongchang delegation erupts in cheers

1516 GMT: He's receiving the envelope.

1515 GMT: Rogge takes the stage.

1513 GMT: The IOC presenters say: "Although there is only one winner, there can be many champions." Then they introduce the three cities. Pyeongchang gets the loudest applause, reports AFP's Berger.

1511 GMT: A bunch of Tweets in Korean. Do they know something?

1508 GMT: An IOC official says Jacques Rogge will make the announcement in about 20 minutes' time. Keep watching this space!

1507 GMT: South African President Jacob Zuma has just arrived in the announcement room, accompanied by Thobeka Madiba Zuma, one of his first ladies.

1504 GMT: People start to return to the lawns by the lake in Annecy to watch the result announced on the giant screen.

"If we don't get them now we will in four or eight years' time," says Christian Rognard, waving a Savoie regional flag and an Olympic flag.

1502 GMT: In central Munich, people are still hopeful and a crowd at Marienplatz shouts "Muenchen rocks".

1459 GMT: German former skier Christian Neureuther, gave his "congratulations" to Pyeongchang on Bavarian radio.

Double Olympic skiing champions Markus Wasmeier tells the radio station: "It must mean Pyeongchang has won in the first round."

1457 GMT: Lee, who conveniently stopped in South Africa first on a whistlestop three African country trip, said that their bid was all about the Olympic Spirit.

"It is about friendship, hard work and fairplay."

1455 GMT: Lee told IOC members in this morning's presentation: "We have worked hard and we will make you proud," said Lee.

"I ask you for your support today so that we can finally make the Winter Olympics and Paralympics dream come true.

"I was a member of the board of FINA (swimming's governing body) and fellow sportsman so this is why I can appreciate more than anyone what the IOC and Olympic Movement have given Korea.

"Now we want to give back."

1453: Pyeongchang are trying at the third time of asking to win the right to host the Games, having finished runners-up on the last two occasions to Vancouver and the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak led from the front at the final presentation this morning speaking passionately and in fluent English, hoping that has the same galvanising effect as it did for Sochi four years ago.

The then Russian president Vladimir Putin stunned everyone by addressing his audience in impeccable English - a language that prior to that everyone thought was alien to him.

1451 GMT: Eric Fournier, the Mayor of Chamonix, said: "Whatever the result, the work carried out here is already a victory." He cited improvements to the city's rail links.

Opponents of the Olympics coming to Annecy unveil a banner reading: "No to the Annecy Games 2018". Khaled Dhegane, spokesman for the anti-Olympics group, said; "You never know, the IOC could have a moment of madness."

1450 GMT: At the Pyeongchang rally, local beef farmers have set up tables to provide some 2,000 servings of free beef soup for dinner.

A group of 20 senior ruling and opposition party members arrived, including Park Geun-Hye, daughter of late authoritarian President Park Chung-Hee and seen as a strong contender for the presidency next year. She took her place in the centre of the front row.

1448 GMT: A band of drummers in bright red traditional outfits serenades the three bid committees as they take their seats in the Durban auditorium where Rogge will announce the decision in a few minutes' time.

1446 GMT: The IOC runs a tight ship. Journalists in the announcement room in Durban are crammed into a roped-off area, says AFP's Joshua Berger.

"When the announcement is made, just stay where you are. Don't run around the room. Don't leave this area," says the official chaperoning the press pack.

1443 GMT: In Durban, only four people know the result: IOC president Jacques Rogge and the three scrutineers: Dick Pound, Frankie Fredericks and Francisco Elizalde, says AFP correspondent Francoise Chaptal.

1440 GMT: In Annecy, a few hundred people gathered in front of a giant screen set up on the lawns by the lake, but an AFP correspondent says the crowd has already started to drift away in the belief that their town has lost out.

1438 GMT: Plenty of people are Tweeting that Pyeongchang seems to have won but noone yet claims to have inside information.

1435 GMT: Rumours are spreading that Pyeongchang has triumphed after IOC president Jacques Rogge announced in Durban that one candidate has achieved a first-round majority.

At the Pyeongchang rally, an organiser relayed the news to the crowd and said the city appeared to be the favourite.

AFP correspondent Lim Chang-Won said the throng greeted the news with a roar of applause and chants of "Yes! Pyeongchang"

1434 GMT: In Pyeongchang, townspeople gathered for an evening rally as darkness fell.

As early as 1150 GMT, some 700 were sitting in front of the main stage at the foot of a huge ski jump tower, banging long yellow balloons, shouting "Yes! Pyeongchang" and waving blue and white flags with the town's logo and slogan.

A group of 30 marched outside the stadium, displaying a banner urging IOC members to vote for Pyeongchang and carrying dozens of flags of other countries.

1430 GMT: Welcome to AFP's coverage of the vote by the International Olympic Committee on the venue to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Pyeongchang in South Korea, Germany's Munich and French Alpine resort Annecy are the three bidding cities which have been trying to demonstrate their merits to more than 90 IOC members meeting in Durban, South Africa.

The favourite is Pyeongchang, aiming to bring the Winter Olympics to Asia for only the third time.

Munich wants to become the first city to have hosted both the Winter and Summer games, having staged the Summer Olympics in 1972.

Annecy is rated an outsider but brought in French Prime Minister Francois Fillon to support its bid.

The IOC has said it will name the winner at 1520 GMT after one of the bidders achieved a majority in the first round of voting.