Pyeongchang Will Compete with Muju for 2014 Winter Olympics?

It seems that there may be a `2nd domestic war for hosting 2014 Winter Olympics`.

Jeonbuk Province governor Mr. Kang Hyeon-wook said that he feels sorry for the failure of Pyeongchang 2010 Winter Olympics hosting, but Muju, Jeolabukdo will present itself to be the hosting site for 2014 Winter Olympics according to the Jeonbuk – Gangwon agreement made last year. Also, Gangwon Province governor Mr. Kim Jin-seon said, “We failed to host the event this time but getting 53 votes was a success. We will obtain the right to host the event after 4 years, making this experience a stepping stone.” in Prague, Czech.

This can lead to another domestic hosting war between Gangwon Pyeongchang and Jeonbuk Muju that occurred with 2010 Winter Olympics. This war of attrition was one of the main reasons for the failure of hosting the Winter Olympics in Korea. The site of event was decided only one year before the final vote, last May, hence there was lack of time for publicizing. It was last May 29th when Pyeongchang and Muju were facing each other firmly to be the site of hosting the event. KOC opened a temporary assembly to modify `Pyeongchang – Muju joint hosting` to `Pyeongchang single hosting` and to provide with the priority to Muju if the Winter Olympics would be hosted in Korea again in 2014.

Governor Kimj Jin-seon signed on the agreement that Jeonbuk will have the priority for 2014 Winter Olympics hosting application and that there will be no dispute or objection to this occasion.

This is why Jeonbuk wishes to stand for 2014 Winter Olympics hosting. If it be following the promise, it is natural that Jeonbuk should be the one this time and there should be no objection at all.

However, in such a case, all the merits Pyeongchang had been storing up will be gone. Jeonbuk will have to go through the hard times Pyeongchang faced due to low recognition.

IOC Committeeman Kim Woon-yong expected that Pyeongchang succeeded in acknowledging its name at the IOC Assembly this time, so it will be easier to achieve the right to host the event for 2014 event.

IOC Committeeman from North Korea Mr. Jang Woong also said that Pyeongchang has the moral obligations to host the event. Moreover, since it had approved its capacity to hold the event from IOC, so there will be no competitor to meet the capacity.

However, governor Kang said, “The agreement should be respected, and we will succeed in hosting the event through thorough preparation. We will organize the hosting committee that has been disbanded.” There is little chance to see any of the two districts to yield.

It seems that `The Wisdom of Solomon` may be the only solution.

mars@donga.com