Seoul selected as S. Korean city to co-host 2032 Olympics with North Korea’s Pyongyang

Posted on : 2019-02-12 17:34 KST Modified on : 2019-02-12 17:34 KST
Capital city wins over Busan in final bid
The unified Korean team at the opening ceremony for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. (photo pool)
The unified Korean team at the opening ceremony for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. (photo pool)

Seoul has been selected as South Korea’s candidate city to bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics jointly with North Korea.

On the afternoon of Feb. 11, the city of Seoul announced that it had been selected at a general meeting of Korean Sport and Olympic Committee (KSOC) representatives at the Jincheon National Training Center in North Chungcheong Province as the South Korean city that will bid for the 35th Summer Olympics in 2032. Seoul had been in competition with Busan, but persuaded the representatives to favor it based on its symbolism as South Korea’s leading city, the competitiveness of its urban infrastructure, and its international capacity.

“While Seoul may have been chosen, I would like to call for warm applause for Busan for competing so strongly to the end, and because the Olympics are a national event rather than an event for Seoul alone, I look forward to its interest and advice going ahead,” said Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon.

Park went on to make a pledge to “marshal all of Seoul’s capabilities to successfully bid jointly for a Seoul-Pyongyang Olympics that will change the destiny of the Korean Peninsula and offer a turning point toward new inter-Korean relations.”

In their Pyongyang Joint Declaration in Sept. 2018, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to cooperate on a joint bid to host the 2032 Summer Olympics. After submitting a declaration of its intent for selection as an Olympic candidate city on Dec. 7, Seoul underwent an on-site examination by the KSOC evolution committee on Jan. 23.

Shortly after the results were announced on Feb. 11, the city signed a working agreement with the KSOC, with plans to formulate a basic outline for its Olympic bid during the first half of 2019. Other remaining procedures on the schedule include Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism approval of the international event hosting plan, a feasibility study and approval by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, discussions with the Ministry of Unification and other central government agencies, and submission of an International Olympic Committee (IOC) bidding application. In reflection of the Olympics’ role as a “citizens’ event,” the city made plans to establish a “citizen recruitment preparation committee” to encourage participation by Seoul citizens and sports figures.

The city also plans to actively cooperate with Pyongyang as agreed upon at the inter-Korean summit last year. The city has stated its plans to work to make the 2032 Olympics a setting for inter-Korean reconciliation along the same lines as the 1988 Seoul Olympics, which bridged Cold War differences to bring the Eastern and Western Blocs together.

The current list of cities competing with Seoul includes Mumbai, Shanghai, Melbourne, Cairo/Alexandria, and Vladivostok.

By Kim Mi-hyang, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]

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