 The opening ceremony of the Games of the 24th Olympiad at Chamsil (Jamsil) Olympic Stadium on Sept. 17, 1988 in the capital city of Seoul, Korea. More than 13,000 athletes and sports officials from 160 countries from across the world participated in the largest-ever festival up to that time. / Korea Times |
By Park Moo-jong
President-publisher of The Korea Times
``Seul,’’ the French pronunciation of Seoul, is still vivid in the memory of most Koreans even 22 years after the somewhat unfamiliar pronunciation by the late International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch (1920-2010) caught the whole world by surprise on Sept. 30, 1981 in Baden-Baden, West Germany.
At 2 p.m. that day, the 80 IOC members entered a closed-door conference room to choose either Seoul or Nagoya of Japan as the venue for the 1988 Olympics. One hour and 45 minutes later, the IOC head came out carrying a vote scorecard.
Both Korean and Japanese people were watching the IOC session, televised live, of course, together with their delegates on the scene. Samaranch said, ``Seul.’’
The Korean delegates, led by Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung (1915-2001), sprang up from their seats, shouted and hugged each other in jubilation to the despair of their rivals over the absolutely unexpected victory. The score was ``52 for Seoul, 27 Nagoya.’’
The IOC decision, dubbed the ``Baden-Baden Miracle’’ by the Korean press, was eventually a prelude to the great changes that South Korea would undertake in the next two decades to the admiration of the world, who after the Olympics saw it as a divided and once poor nation, which was technically at war with still hostile North Korea since the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War.
The idea of bidding to host the 1988 Summer Olympics, officially called the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, first came in the last days of the Park Chung-hee (1917-1979) government in the late 1970s. The Park administration had the bitter experience of giving up the right to host the 6th Asian Games in Seoul in 1970 due to the then economic difficulties. Instead Bangkok of Thailand held them.
Two major international events at that time served as decisive impetus for South Korea to consider hosting an Olympic Games. The successful hosting of the 42nd World Shooting Championships (Sept. 24-Oct. 5 1978) and the General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees gave the sports officials, who had never previously staged an international event, confidence in their ability to hold the Olympics.
The Korea Olympic Committee (KOC) was confident of its ability in terms of games organization and concluded that the country’s GNP had reached a point where it could support the hosting of the Games. Japan’s per capita GNP was $800 at the time of the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Mexico’s was only $631 during the Mexico City Games. Korea already recorded $1,242 in 1978 and the economy was growing at 10 percent per annum.
On Oct. 8, 1979, then Seoul Mayor Chung Sang-chon announced that the city had decided to bid for the right to host the 24th Olympic Games. However, 18 days after the announcement, President Park who had finally approved of the bidding plan was assassinated and the campaign stopped for almost a year due to persisting political confusion and the passivity among city and sports officials.
After Gen. Chun Doo-hwan took office as president of the new Republic on Sept. 1 in 1980, the bidding effort entered a new phase. President Chun said that the country should go ahead with the plan because what had been officially announced by the previous administration should not be changed without proper reason. ``We cannot back down from a historic project in the sentiment of defeatism without even making a try,’’ he said.
On Dec. 15, 1980, the IOC announced that Seoul, the capital city of the Republic of Korea, had become the fourth candidate city for the 1988 Games after Melbourne of Australia, Nagoya of Japan and Athens of Greece.
Melbourne formally announced the retraction of its Olympic application on Feb. 24, 1981, and Athens, which wanted to obtain the right on the condition of hosting the Olympics permanently, subsequently gave up its bid, too, leaving only Seoul and Nagoya competing to host the event.
The overwhelming view among sports experts was that Seoul was in a decisively disadvantageous position compared with Nagoya. Being the capital city of a divided country, Seoul had political disadvantages. Fierce opposition to it hosting the Games was expected from North Korea and its fellow socialist-bloc countries. Seoul also had no experience in hosting any global multi-sports events at that time. Nagoya apparently had an edge over Seoul.
The Chun government fully supported the campaign in hopes that increased international activities would help legitimize its ``authoritarian’’ regime amidst increasing political and social pressure for the nation’s democratization, and showcase the Korean economic achievement to the world. It also expected that it could use the Olympics as a ``coming-out party’’ for the newly industrialized Korean economy and as a deterrent against an aggressive North Korea.
Finally, Seoul was awarded the right to hold the Games at Baden-Baden, becoming the second Asian city following Tokyo and the 16th nation to have a city chosen as the venue for the global sports festival.
It cannot be overemphasized that the Seoul Olympics was not only a major influence on all aspects of the Republic of Korea, generally known as the ``Land of Morning Calm’’ since the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) period, but also on the political map of the East and West.
The Games marked the beginning of a new era in Korean history when the country overcame political confusion during the decade leading up to the Olympics to establish a stable democratic government.
Global attention to South Korea was growing ahead of the Olympics, while citizens’ calls for political reform and democratization became stronger with the world’s media beginning to closely scrutinize the situation in the country. As protesting citizens and students flooded the main streets of the metropolitan city in June 1987, the Chun Doo-hwan administration yielded to ``people power’’ amid mounting fear that hosting of the Olympics might be jeopardized.
Chun’s apparent heir Roh Tae-woo took the lead in initiating the historic ``June 29 Declaration’’ introducing direct presidential elections 15 years after the late President Park scrapped them in 1972, following his close contest with Kim Dae-jung in the 1971 popular vote. Roh was elected through the new formula in December 1987 six months later and had the honor of officially opening the Games of the 24th Olympiad at the Olympic Main Stadium in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul on Sept. 17 the next year, while serving his single five-year presidential term.
The public desire not to see the Olympic Games tainted by social unrest served as an impetus for the nation’s transition to democracy.
The seven years’ long and winding road for the preparations of a successful Olympics featured the Korean people’s all-out efforts to achieve harmony and peace through the sports meet, strongly backed by the IOC’s undaunted spirit to bring the Olympics to the right path as a festival for all mankind.
The Games of the 24th Olympiad opened with magnificent spectacle in the capital of a divided country that rose from the destruction of war and the depths of poverty, bringing together more than 13,000 athletes and officials from 160 countries, for what has been hailed as a return to the true Olympics.
Under the theme of ``Harmony and Progress,’’ they gathered in what was the largest-ever Olympiad up to that time to promote these lofty ideals, while transcending the barriers of language, race and ideology.
The first boycott-free Olympics in 12 years, the Seoul Olympic Games rose above ideological division and national interest. The Seoul meet successfully returned the Olympic Movement back to its founding ideals. Chief organizer of the Games, Park Seh-jik (1933-2009), said in his opening address: ``Our world has overcome numerous obstacles to finally come together here from East and West, North and South under the sky of Seoul. We have leaped over ideological and political barriers to share in a celebration of ‘harmony and progress,’ which we earnestly hope will endure long after these Games are over.’’
The sporting extravaganza in Seoul has its historical significance in that it contributed to the reconciliation between the East and West leading to the eventual détente that preceded the fall of the then Eastern bloc and the disbandment of the Soviet Union in the following years.
This is well proved by the fact that the Seoul Games were the last Olympics for two of the then world’s ``dominating’’ sports powers, namely the Soviet Union and East Germany which ceased to exist shortly after the Seoul Games.
The previous three Olympics in Montreal in 1976, Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984 all suffered boycotts by conflicting member countries. The apartheid of South Africa made African countries stay away from the Montreal Games, while in the West, countries including the United States boycotted the Moscow Games to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. In retaliation, the East led by the Soviet Union, refused to go to Los Angeles four years later.
It is needless to explain how hard Seoul and the international sports governing body worked together to make the 1988 Olympics a normal one by successfully persuading the Eastern bloc to come to Seoul.
Only seven countries out of the total 167 IOC member countries failed to appear in the Seoul Games. North Korea, still technically at war with South Korea, and its allies _ Albania, Cuba, Madagascar and the Seychelles _ boycotted the games. For differing reasons, Ethiopia and Nicaragua did not participate in the competition.
Among communist countries at that time, China declared its participation in the Seoul Games in July 1983, while East Germany did so in March 1985. China announced its participation at an early stage because it was not affected by the Soviet Union and it was seeking to host the Asian Games in 1990. East Germany appeared not to have any choice but to compete in Seoul because it was difficult for the communist country to boycott the Olympics three times in a row as one of the strongest sports superpowers of the time.
Combined diplomatic efforts by the then sports, diplomatic and business leaders, including IOC member Kim Un-yong, led to the Soviet Union’s decision to take part in the Games and other Eastern European countries followed suit, bringing the total number of participating countries to 160.
The Seoul Olympics had a significant impact on the rest of South Korea as ``the biggest national project ever undertaken since the founding of the nation,’’ putting it on a global stage and inspiring national pride.
Now that its efforts have been rewarded and the party was over, a newly self-confident Korea harnessed its redoubtable ``can-do spirit’’ to make a new leap forward.
These included the ambitious goal of joining the ranks of the world’s advanced nations, easing tensions with the reclusive Communist North Korea in the hopes of eventual peaceful reunification and, at home, ensuring that democracy took firm root after decades of army-backed repression.
Former IOC President Samaranch said the Seoul Olympics had a transforming impact on Korea, making the country before the Olympics and after the Olympics very different.
The Games decisively contributed to the development of Korean sports in terms of providing momentum for better training programs and improving facilities for the athletes, having made people happy with their great performances in many international sports competitions.
South Korea made its Olympic debut in London in 1948 and earned its first gold medal in the 1976 Montreal Olympics as free-style wrestler Yang Jung-mo overpowered his Mongolian rival in the finals, It ranked 19th among more than 100 participating nations.
In the crippled 1984 Los Angeles Games, South Koreans captured 10th place out of 140 nations, and four years later at home, they finished fourth to the surprise of the world sports powers with 33 medals, including 12 gold.
Marathoner Hwang Young-jo was the darling of the people as he won the gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics held just after the Seoul Games. It was in the 1936 Berlin Olympics where Sohn Kee-chung won the gold medal in the marathon, but he had to run as a Japanese “national” because Korea was a colony of Japan (1910-1945) at the time.
In the 1996 Atlanta Games, South Koreans finished 10th with nine gold, 15 silver and five bronze; eight gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze for 12th place in the 2000 Sydney Games; and nine gold, 12 silver and nine bronze for ninth place in the 2004 Athens Games.
In the latest 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the third in Asia after Tokyo and Seoul, South Korean athletes gave their best performance ever by winning the country’s first gold medal in swimming through Park Tae-hwan in the 400-meter freestyle and five world records set by Jang Mi-ran in the women’s over-75 kilogram weightlifting events. South Korea also achieved the most noticeable achievement in baseball by winning the gold medal, defeating the much-favored United States, Japan and Cuba.
An increasing number of South Korean athletes went on to become sports stars abroad, including Major League pitcher Park Chan-ho, and golfers Park Se-ri and Choi Kyung-joo. On top of these achievements, South Korea co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup with Japan and advanced to the semifinals to the great surprise of people worldwide. In the just-ended South Africa World Cup, South Korea also joined the last 16 for the first time in an overseas competition.
``Before hosting the Olympics, Korea’s international competition was relatively weak. Its goals were quite humble,’’ said Yoon Kang-ro, a Korean sports diplomat who has done extensive work with the KOC and IOC. ``After hosting the Olympics, the goals became much higher.’’
From an economic viewpoint, the Seoul Games sparked a rapid growth in Korean businesses and income. The sporting event created work opportunities for Koreans, while earning immense amounts of money from a television contract with NBC and sponsorship from large international corporations, such as Coca-Cola and Kodak during the Games.
What had most significantly changed the lives of South Koreans after the Olympics was the liberalization of their overseas travel for tourism. The epoch-making policy of the government was also effective in attracting more foreign tourists.
A research paper written by Oklahoma City University professor of economics Jonathan Willner, titled ``The 1988 Korean Olympics and its Macro Effects: What's there?’’ said that from 1982 to 1988, production resulting from the Seoul Olympics projects amounted to 1,846.2 billion won (approximately $3 billion at the time), while 336,000 new jobs were created during the same period.
South Korea transformed itself from an isolated peninsula to a prominent member of the global community, while expanding trade and boosting its economy and remarkably growing to be a leading giant in the IT industry.
The per capita GNP in 1988 was $4,435, but this almost doubled to $8,177 five years later in 1993 and then rose to $17,074 in 2009, putting it 37th in the world. GNP was $187.7 billion in 1988 and increased almost two-fold to $362.1 billion in1993. Last year’s GNP was $832.5 billion, the 15th largest in the world.
''The Olympics helped economic development and improvement,'' said former Korea Sports Council president Kim Jung-kil.
From a social viewpoint, the Olympics helped connect Korea with other fields of the world. In the wake of the Games, South Korea has witnessed a sharp increase in international business and global trade. It also has become home to more foreigners and a popular tourist destination. The importance of English speaking and writing proficiency has been ever stressed, with the number of Koreans learning English or studying abroad drastically increasing.
The Olympics also affected other aspects of Korean culture, such as influencing art and building national pride _ aspects that are difficult to measure. The Olympics provided a fresh fillip for people from all over the world to take a first-hand look at Korean culture and tradition, their competence and potential, which boosted Koreans' pride.
In particular, the Seoul Olympics gave a powerful impetus to the improvement of South Korea’s relations with the then Eastern European countries, the Soviet Union and China, all of whom had competed in the Games, thus helping pave the way for the eventual reconciliation between the East and West afterwards.
South Korea began to normalize diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level with Eastern European countries such as Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia one after another after the Olympics.
The diplomatic efforts reached their zenith when Seoul reopened diplomatic ties with Moscow when the foreign ministers of the two countries signed an agreement to that effect on Sept. 30, 1990 at the United Nations in New York City following the first ever summit between President Roh Tae-woo and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in San Francisco on June 4, 1990.
The establishment of Seoul-Moscow diplomatic relations was followed by the normalization of ties between Seoul and Beijing in September 1992. The diplomatic success owed much to the successful hosting of the Olympic Games.
Moscow and Beijing were staunch allies of Pyongyang but they both rejected North Korean pressure to boycott the Seoul Games, ensuring they were the first truly global Olympics since 1972, thus opening the door for diplomatic normalization with Seoul.
By successfully staging the 16-day sporting extravaganza and overcoming many difficulties arising mainly from territorial division, the city of Seoul, now one of the 10 largest cities in the world, with a population of nearly 12 million, has left a great legacy for the history of both the Olympics and Korea.
As soon as the IOC selected Seoul as the venue for the 1988 Summer Games, citizens energetically set out to prepare for the global festival. In close cooperation with the government, industry and all spectrums of life, they undertook no fewer than 120 projects in the fields of sports facilities, transportation, tourism, accommodation, public health and hygiene, and safety and urban environment.
Seven years of intensive planning, construction and hard work paid off. The Han River was cleaned up to allow it to support freshwater life and the Olympic Expressway was completed along the riverside. The Olympic Park is still one of the city’s most attractive tourist highlights.
Noticeable was the citizens’ whole-hearted cooperation with the city authorities to help ease the traffic congestion during the Games period. They answered a city appeal to only use their cars on alternate days according to an odd or even license plate system and to adopt the daylight saving formula. Citizens are of the view that without such a sincere cooperation, the Seoul Olympics could never have been so successful.
To recap, the thrilling Seoul Olympics gave South Korea an outgoing summer filled with unforgettable moments. Not to mention the outstanding performances of South Korean athletes such as female archer Kim Soo-nyung and the women handball players, there was the 100-meter dash that has become one of the most talked-about races in history by turning a hero to zero. Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson won the event in a world-record time, but was later stripped of his gold medal after testing positive for anabolic steroid use, and American Carl Lewis, who had finished second, took the gold. But the unhappy incident was a triumph for South Korea’s advanced technology in the field of dope testing.
The foremost goal of the Seoul Olympics was well disclosed by its official song, ``Hand in Hand.’’ The Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee (SLOOC) decided to make and distribute an official song of the Seoul Games to publicize the Games to all the IOC member nations, encouraging their participation in the event and consolidating the harmony and friendship of the entire world through the song.
SLOOC chose Italian composer Giorgio Moroder, U.S. songwriter Tom Whitlock and Korean vocal group Koreana for the Olympic song, which topped popular charts in 17 countries, including Sweden, West Germany, the Philippines, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Japan and Hong Kong, and was listed among the top 10s of popular songs in more than 30 countries. More than 12 million CDs were sold across the world.
Twenty- two years have passed. There is still the possibility of bringing another Olympics to Korea: the Winter Games. The resort town of PyeongChang in Gangwon Province is making its third bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics following its earlier failure to host the winter sports festival in 2010 and 2014. Mayor Hur Nam-sik of Busan, the southern largest port city of the nation, has said his city will bid for the 2020 Summer Games. It could be a chance for Korea to see more Olympic triumphs and gain further international recognition in another striking leap to join world leaders.
Under the banner of ``Harmony and Progress,’’ the Seoul Olympics which was deemed by many to be the ultimate display of friendship and peace was not only a resounding success, but it also opened a new era in the Republic of Korea and the Olympic Movement. The Seoul Olympiad ended an often-talked sentence of decades-long humiliation and defeatism derived from the 36-year Japanese occupation and the Korean War. It heralded the advent of the international coming of age of the nation.
Hand in Hand by Koreana
See the fire in the sky
We feel the beating of our hearts together
This is our time to rise above
We know the chance is here to live forever
For all time
(Refrain)
Hand in hand we stand
All across the land
We can make this world a better place in which to live
Hand in hand we can
Start to understand
Breaking down the walls that come between us for all time
Arirang
Everytime we give it all
We feel the flame eternally inside us
Lift our hands up to the sky
The morning calm helps us to live in harmony
For all time
Who is Park Moo-jong?
Park Moo-jong, president-publisher of The Korea Times, joined The Korea Times as a trainee reporter in 1974. He has been working with the nation’s oldest English newspaper since then.
He served as city, sports, culture, economic and political editor, respectively, until he became chief editorial writer in October 2000.
In March 2004 Park was named president-publisher of the daily. He is now serving his third term.
While working as deputy sports editor during the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he was in charge of editing ``Seoul Olympians,’’ the official newspaper of the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee, edited and printed by The Korea Times.
The 64-page tabloid was published for 33 days both in English and French.
In recognition of his contribution to the success of the Summer Olympic Games, the government conferred him an Olympic medal.
He is a vice president of the Korea-Bangladesh Forum and a member of the board of directors of the Korea-Indonesia Friendship Association. He is also a director of the Korea-Pacific Economic Cooperation Committee
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