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Snow piles up on the Pyeongchang Olympics ski jump at the Alpensia Ski Resort on Dec. 7. (by Lee Jung-ah

On Dec. 7, officials in the Blue House breathed a sigh of relief. After the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned Russia from participating in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Russian athletes could compete in the Olympics on an individual level if they so desired. The government is planning to make every effort to prevent anything from obstructing President Moon Jae-in’s plan for the Olympics to serve as a catalyst for peace.

“This is fortunate, and I think it’s something to welcome,” a senior official at the Blue House said in regard to Putin’s remarks. “Russia is a powerhouse in the Winter Olympics, and frankly speaking, the government was worried and concerned about the IOC’s decision [to ban it]. Anyway, I think that we’ve avoided the worst-case scenario.”

“Undoubtedly, we will not declare any blockade will not prevent our Olympic athletes from participating, if any one of them wants to participate in their personal capacity,” Putin said on Dec. 6. Russia is a dominant force in winter sports. During the 2014 Winter Olympics, held in the Russian city of Sochi, the country was the overall winner, netting 13 gold medals.

Moon has laid out a plan to use the Pyeongchang Olympics as an opportunity for easing military tensions on the Korean Peninsula and to prime the pump for inter-Korean dialogue.

“[Pyeongchang] is the first of a series of Olympics to be held in Northeast Asia: PyeongChang in 2018, Tokyo in 2020 and Beijing in 2022,” Moon said during his speech to the UN General Assembly in New York in September. “I believe that PyeongChang will become a candlelight that sheds light on peace.”

Moon has also invited the leaders of the US, China, Japan and Russia to visit Pyeongchang. Seoul is even reviewing a plan to delay South Korea-US joint exercises that partially overlap with the Olympics, held from Feb. 9 to 25, 2018.

But in defiance of Moon’s desires, the external conditions have been consistently frustrating. North Korea’s launch of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Nov. 29 made matters even worse. On Dec. 1, North Korea said that a pair of figure skaters who were its only athletes to qualify for the Olympics would not be participating, and the National Hockey League (NHL) also announced that its athletes would not be attending, taking some wind out of the Olympics’ sails. The ICO’s abrupt decision to ban Russia from the games is another major obstacle.

Following Putin’s remarks, Seoul plans to do everything it can to help as many Olympic athletes from Russia as possible participate in the games and to ensure the success of the Pyeongchang Olympics. “We will be deliberating and working with the IOC to enable all the Russian athletes to participate in the games,” said a Blue House official.

“The government regards the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics as a good opportunity to reinforce the tradition of friendly relations between South Korea and Russia, and it hopes to see a lot of Russian athletes there,” South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said in a statement.

Russia sent 19 athletes to the 2017 World Championships in Athletics, held in London in August, as neutral athletes instead of under the Russian flag. While the final decision about whether Russian athletes will participate in the Pyeongchang Olympics will be made by the Russian Olympic Committee on Dec. 12, it’s generally presumed that Putin’s plan is unlikely to be changed.

During an interview with Fox News on Dec. 6, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley expressed reservations about Team USA attending the Pyeongchang Olympics. Along with noting that the situation in North Korea is “changing by the day” and still unresolved, she said that “the administration is going to come together and find out the best way to make sure that [the athletes] are protected.”

On Nov. 30, US President Donald Trump told Moon over the phone that the US would send a high level government delegation to the Pyeongchang Olympics.

By Seong Yeon-cheol and Kim Chang-keum, staff reporters

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