GB HAVE EVACUATION PLAN IF KOREA GOES TO WAR

BRITISH Olympic chiefs revealed yesterday that they have an evacuation plan in the event that Korean tensions escalate during the Winter Games. In February, more than 60 British athletes are expected to compete in Pyeongchang, South Korea — which is just 40 miles from the demilitarised zone dividing North from South. Fears have grown in recent months amid aggressive rhetoric between North Korea and US president Donald Trump. The British Olympic Association have been in weekly dialogue with the Foreign Office to monitor the situation. There are no plans to pull out, but emergency options have been thoroughly discussed to cover the outbreak of war while the team is over in Korea. BOA chief executive Bill Sweeney said: ‘There seems a higher level (of threat) this time, obviously. We are working on all possible contingency plans. ‘The only one you have in the extreme event (of war) is evacuation. We will go there with a clearly laid out evacuation plan. I don’t think it will be necessary. ‘We would take our advice from the embassy and Foreign Office. We also have really good relations with the US Olympic Committee. We work with them on joint initiatives and they have 200,000 servicemen there and 100,000 civilians, so their intelligence is very strong. ‘They announced a very strong line two weeks ago that they are very confident and have no intention to pull out.’ He added: ‘I lost a lot more sleep going to Rio (for the 2016 Olympics) than Pyeongchang. ‘South Korea as a country is really safe and secure, probably one of the safest you can go to.’