DURBAN, South Africa — Persistence paid off for the South Korean city of Pyeongchang.

After a decade of trying and two defeats, it won the right to host an Olympics — the 2018 Winter Games — beating two European rivals today in a landslide vote.

“Koreans have been waiting for 10 years to host the Winter Games,” bid leader Cho Yang-ho said. “Now we have finally achieved our dream.”

Pyeongchang routed Munich and Annecy, France, in the first round of a secret ballot of the International Olympic Committee. Needing 48 votes for victory, Pyeongchang received 63 of the 95 votes cast. Munich received 25 and Annecy seven.

The Koreans narrowly lost in previous bids — the 2010 and 2014 Olympics.

Pyeongchang will be the first city in Asia outside Japan to host the Winter Games. Japan held the games in Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998.