Kim Woon-yong Responsible For Pyongchang`s Failure

Gong No-myung, Chief of the delegation trying to attract 2010 Winter Olympics to Pyongchang in Kangwon province, strongly argued on July 9th , “The IOC member Kim Woon-yong`s negative view towards Pyongchang as a host site for the 2010 winter Olympics and his attempt to be elected as the vice chairman of the organization served as major factors that made us fail to get the most vote in the final selection process.”

He told that Kim should be responsible for this failure.

Mr. Gong quoted Kim as saying “How could we succeed at once this time? We might have to try again and again until we get the ticket. We might go for the year 2014 ” at a special conference at the Assembly to attract the winter Olympics. Gong argued that Kim dispersed related activities and energies to attract the event this time by making such remarks.

The Culture and Tourism Minister Lee Chang-dong also said, “Kim did not make clear whether he would vie for the vice chairman position or not”. When asked “If Kim did not go for the position and cooperated to get the ticket to the winter Olympics, would it be possible for us to succeed?,” the Minister answered “Positive”.

The Governor of Kwangwon Province Kim Jin-sun also said, “I personally heard from somewhere that Kim told that Pyongchang could go for the next winter Olympics in 2014.”

He added, “I made a written agreement that Muju would have a prior right to the 2014 winter Olympics host region if Pyongchang did not win the vote for 2010 in the preliminary round of competition within the country. However, it should be further considered more prudently from a broad perspective before selecting a hosting region for the 2014 winter Olympics, given that Pyongchang had accumulated a lot of know-how and experience this time around”.

Regarding the above arguments, Kim responded “The Pyongchang committee is making such a fuss to nullify its written statement for Muju and attempt to put Pyongchang on the vote again in 2014.”

Yong-Gwan Jung Min-Hyuk Park yongari@donga.com mhpark@donga.com