Co-hosting Winter Olympics with NK?

Main opposition Democratic Party Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu told his party`s supreme council meeting Monday in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, “I will seriously consider a co-hosting of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics with North Korea.” He said, “Let`s make the event an Olympics of peace so that the Korean Peninsula can contribute to peace in Northeast Asia.” Gangwon Gov. Choi Moon-soon, also a Democratic Party member, has said that if Pyeongchang is selected, he is willing to co-host the event with or invite the North. Of course, it is a good thing if the Winter Olympics can truly bring reconciliation and peace to the two Koreas.

Co-hosting the Winter Olympics in the two Koreas would violate the charter of the National Olympic Committee, which designates a city as host, but it is possible if the International Olympic Committee allows. Other proposals including certain events in Mount Kumgang or Samjiyeon ski resort at the slope of Gaema Heights in the North. Yet serious consideration is required of the conditions of co-hosting the Olympics with the North and reality. Even if Pyongyang agrees to host certain events, Seoul will probably have to build infrastructure for the occasion, including a stadium on the North`s behalf. Even if that is possible, a sudden strain in inter-Korean relations or the North`s abrupt withdrawal from the event could make the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics a failure. South Korea could thus lose the world`s trust.

North Korea has yet to announce that South Korea will host the 2018 Winter Olympics to its people. Pyongyang also rejected a proposal to co-host the 2002 World Cup soccer finals. If the North hosts several events in the Winter Olympics, numerous athletes and visitors will visit the Stalinist country and cause Pyongyang to fear a threat to its communist regime. Given the complex situation, some could claim that Sohn’s suggestion on co-hosting the event is complacent or irresponsible.

Forming a united inter-Korean team can be negotiated with the North in the end. Chang Ung, North Korea’s IOC member, officially supported Pyeongchang`s bid for the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics in implying the possibility of forming a joint team, yet said nothing officially this time.

North Korea seems nervous about South Korea’s hosting of an international event, and could very well play hardball. It bombed a South Korean airplane in November 1987 to interrupt the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics and mounted torpedo attacks off Yeonpyeong Island during the 2002 World Cup. A better idea could be for politicians including Sohn to pay more attention to the successful hosting of the upcoming IAAF World Championships in Daegu (from Aug. 27 through Sept. 4).