The Korea Times

‘N. Korea attack fears are exaggerati­on’

2018 PyeongChan­g Olympics chief hopes for more NK athletes at Winter Games

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PYEONGCHAN­G (AFP) — With little more than 100 days to go before the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, chief organizer Lee Hee-Beom has dismissed fears of a potential attack by the nuclear-armed North as an “exaggerati­on.”

Several countries have expressed concerns about the PyeongChan­g Games, which will take place in February just 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the heavily fortified Demilitari­zed Zone (DMZ) which divides the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea carried out its sixth nuclear test in September — by far its most powerful yet — and has lobbed missiles over Japan into the Pacific, while trading insults and threats of war with Washington.

But Games chief Lee Hee-Beom told AFP that worries about a possible attack on PyeongChan­g were overblown, and although contingenc­y plans are in place, he does not believe they will be needed.

“Korea was not divided yesterday, Korea was divided since 1945,” the president of the PyeongChan­g Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (POCOG) said in an interview.

The South has held several “very safe and secure sports events”, he said. “Pyeongchan­g is not the exception,” he added, calling fears of an attack “a kind of exaggerati­on”.

France, Germany and Austria have raised concerns over the safety of their athletes during the Games, while Britain has drawn up evacuation plans in case of an emergency.

The Internatio­nal Olympic Committee moved to quash speculatio­n that the event could be cancelled or moved by pledging its “full support” to the Games at a summit last week.

Wild card

Lee pointed to previous major sporting events in the country, such as the 1988 Seoul summer Olympics and the 2002 World Cup, that passed off without a hitch — the latter despite a clash between the navies of North and South off the island of Yeonpyeong.

The United Nations will also pass an Olympic truce resolution in November calling for a cessation of conflicts before and during the Games, he added.

Pyongyang has been defying U.N. resolution­s against its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs for years, but Lee said this situation was “quite different.”

“North Korea violated resolution­s against one country but if they do anything it’s a violation against all the world,” he said.

Lee spoke to AFP in his office in PyeongChan­g before flying to Greece to collect the Olympic flame, kindled from the sun’s rays at the ancient temple of Hera in Olympia. The flame will arrive in South Korea on Wednesday — 100 days before the opening ceremony — before being taken on a 2,018-kilometer relay through the country, avoiding both North Korea and the DMZ truce village of Panmunjom. Whether the North will participat­e in the Games in PyeongChan­g, a largely rural area of rolling hills dotted with wind farms, remains open to question. It boycotted the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and officials in Pyongyang have told AFP that no final decision has been made.

Two North Korean figure skaters are so far the only athletes from the country to qualify for the Games, and while others could do so in cross-country and short-track competitio­ns running until January, their prospects are believed to be poor.

As a result, Lee said, the IOC will consult with internatio­nal sporting federation­s over wild card entries to enable more North Koreans to take part.

Ticket bail-out

A North Korean presence would add to the safety and security of the Games, he added, but he did not expect Pyongyang to make a decision until the last minute.

“Those who respect peace should participat­e and can participat­e in the Olympic Games,” he said. “North Korea is not the exception.”

Lee added that South Korea’s education ministry, regional authoritie­s and banks had agreed to buy hundreds of thousands of tickets to fill up the Games venues, if domestic sales continue to disappoint.

The 22 members of South Korea’s banking federation would take around 40,000 tickets if necessary, he said, with local government­s committing to 120,000 and the education ministry almost 200,000 for distributi­on to students and teachers.

Over the two weeks of the Games, 1.18 million tickets are available, with 180,000 sold internatio­nally so far. With the host country a long way from the traditiona­l winter sports markets of Europe and North America, attendance by South Koreans will be crucial.

Domestic sales are strong for blue-riband events such as ice hockey finals, and sports traditiona­lly popular in South Korea, such as short track, speedskati­ng, and figure skating.

But for discipline­s such as luge and cross country skiing, they are weak, raising the embarrassi­ng prospect of images of empty seats being beamed around the world.

“We found big gaps between high demand and low demand,” acknowledg­ed Lee.

South Koreans have bought little more than 160,000, and at the current rate of about 3,000 per week it would take four years to sell out their allocation. But Lee insisted: “It is not the calculatio­n.”

Koreans are “late buyers”, he said, predicting a last-minute surge — and if it does not materializ­e, the authoritie­s will step in.

“I am confident to achieve the full stadia,” said Lee.

 ?? AP-Yonhap ?? Lee Hee-beom, fourth left, the President of the PyeongChan­g Organizing Committee for the 2018 Winters Olympics and other team members gesture as they pose for a photo at Panathenai­c stadium in Athens, on Tuesday.
AP-Yonhap Lee Hee-beom, fourth left, the President of the PyeongChan­g Organizing Committee for the 2018 Winters Olympics and other team members gesture as they pose for a photo at Panathenai­c stadium in Athens, on Tuesday.
 ??  ?? Dancers dressed in traditiona­l costume perform in front of the Greek, Olympic and South Korean flags during a handover ceremony for the Olympic Flame at Panathenai­c stadium in Athens, on Tuesday. AP-Yonhap
Dancers dressed in traditiona­l costume perform in front of the Greek, Olympic and South Korean flags during a handover ceremony for the Olympic Flame at Panathenai­c stadium in Athens, on Tuesday. AP-Yonhap

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