Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mistermasan]

a generation or so ago, seoul hosted the olympics. i found an LP of the event and that started some random thoughts...

how did a country AT WAR, without a peace treaty or promise of a peace treaty actually get awarded the olympics? isn't such against all the lofty ideals the IOC oozes on about?

i musta been engrossed in something else because all i remember of the seoul olympiucs is some shoddy boxing decisions. hopefully i'll never watch the olympics again. certainly not in 2008.

[tomwaits]

I recall 2 things about it--Ben Johnson stripped of a gold for doping and....

that Korea shocked the world with their technology ,,,people still thought of "backward Asia" and people were surprised they pulled it all off.


The war or "war" situation would not have meant anymore than FIFA awarding them WC 2002.

[Smee]

I've been to Olympic Park, and it's really nice. Are there any Olympics museums in Seoul? Anybody know of any good online information or books about the Seoul Olympics? I think that'd the run-up in the decade before the games would interesting topic for one of the local writers---or someone much better.

[Kimchi Cha Cha]

Michael Breen's 'The Koreans' contains a couple of chapters on the mid to late 80s, the dictators, the protests and the lead-up to the games. It was a very interesting time to be in Korea I would imagine. I know a few people didn't really like his book but I found it a good read and somewhat relevant still despite being a decade old now.

I think the games gave Koreans a huge boost in self-esteem and confidence, as they proved the world that they were no longer a poor nation and were capable of hosting huge events.

Seoul's Olympic stadium is like walking into a time-wrap back to '88, it looks like they haven't done a lick of work to the stadium since the games. Though, you really do get a feel for what the games would have been like due to this. My and friend and I were able to run of the track due to the gates being open and no one stopping us. I was Carl Lewis to his Ben Johnson, it was kinda cool.

[livinginkunsan]

[Chicoloco]

[expat2001]

[Otherside]

Russia and Japan are still technically at war too. That didn't prevent Tokyo from hosting the 1964 olympics or the 1980 Moscow games. This goes double for WC 2002.

I think the IOC (like everybody else) looks at the situation as it stands and not whether an actual peace treaty has been signed.

[nicholas_chiasson]