the Financial Times’ Christian Oliver, who in a blog post at the FT blasts Seoul’s strategy of using what we at the Marmot’s Hole — lacking as we do both a legal department and the financial wherewithal to withstand major lawsuits — prefer to call upstanding members of the Korean business community as the point men for its efforts to win the 2018 Winter Olympic Games:
South Korea faces tough opponents in winning the 2018 winter Olympics: France and Germany. So it should be relying on its most charming ambassadors, headed perhaps by Kim Yuna, the Olympic figure-skating champion.
Instead, Korea is allowing the country’s most notorious corporate boss to do the lobbying. Kim Seung-youn, chairman of the Hanwha conglomerate, was briefly imprisoned in 2007 for abducting some bar staff to a building site, where he beat them with a steel pipe in revenge for an attack on his son.
Kim, whose sentence was suspended, will be travelling to Europe and the US to lobby for the Olympics to be held in the town of Pyeongchang. His company, which makes chemicals and explosives, is one of the Olympic bid sponsors. In a statement released over the weekend, Hanwha said Kim would be “fully mobilizing his global network” in European countries and would “seek active co-operation from them”. Let’s hope he has some more gentle means of persuasion at his disposal than steel pipes.
As Mr. Oliver notes, this is something of a pattern — the head of another Korean conglomerate, ahem, was also set free to lobby for the games, a move we lambasted here at the time.
Granted, as Mr. Oliver notes, almost nobody outside of Korea knows what any of these guys did, so nobody’s likely to complain. He could have also noted that we are, after all, talking about the IOC.
It’s what this says domestically, however, that’s problematic:
To some extent that is true, but the winter Olympics bid shows that Korea’s political system still panders to business leaders to the extent they feel they are above the law. That is disturbing.
Indeed it is.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey, what happened to all the comments? They were awesome.
I don’t know what’s actually worse…that Korea’s relying on a parade of convicted felons to do its bidding for these Games, or that anyone seriously thinks Pyeongchang is anything close to a suitable winter venue.
Mind you, I’ve been a big fan of Koera’s past international sports efforts. Summer Olympics? Great! World Cup? Fantastic! Team Korea’s entry into the 2013 America’s Cup? F*ckin’ awesome!!
But Pyeongchang? Has anyone on Korea’s bid committee actually gone skiing there? Or bothered to notice that snowfall there is both mediocre AND unpredictable?
This is a bid too far. Germany would be a FAR better choice for anyone who, you know, actually does winter sports. But I suspect Korea’s bid has everything to do with economics and national pride and nothing whatsoever to do with the athletes.
DLB
DLB,
I hear you, but Korea may get it simply because of timing and geography. The winter games have only been held in Asia two times (both in Japan, I believe) and there is this HUGE rising country to Korea’s immediate west that is within easy flight distance away…
So…. the Olympic committee may simply give it to Korea because they want to see winter sports be more popular in Asia (specifically China).
WK,
You may be right about the politics. You’re certainly right about Sapporo and Nagano, though Nagano was quite possibly one of the worst Winter Olympic on record (it cost a fortune). In contract, I don’t think Germany has ever hosted a winter Olymics, while France has hosted it several times.
But if Korea’s bid gains favor with the IOC as a pander to China, or to NE Asia regionalism, it’s misplaced, I think. We’ll see.
DLB
BTW, the IOC’s award of the next winter Olympics to Sochi was also a dud, which will become apparent all too soon.
DLB,
I don’t know if I’d call it a nod to “regionalism” per se. It’s just that China (and more of Asia as well) doesn’t really know winter sports very well and greater participation by more Asian countries, including China, will make winter sports more popular around the world. I mean, let’s face it, there are a lot of people in Asia and more and more of those people are becoming middle class or more. Give the costs associated with winter sports (equipment, travel, lodging, etc.), it is better suited for the middle class and above. It’s not like Kenya can dominate speed skating like it does marathon running given the specialized training and facilities needed, etc.
Having the games in close proximity this this gigantic, but largely untapped
marketregion will make winter sports more popular globally andgive winter sports equipment manufacturers, most of which are in Western countriesgive the Olympic committee much to consider.WK,
Re: winter sports equipment manufacturers, the yuppie in me would love a pair of Ogasaka skis.
BTW, my birthday’s in December, just in case….
DLB
DLB,
Wanting Canadian skis is so anti-American. Pass the Freedom Fries!
Nevermind. Research fail.
Ha!
I wonder if this clown’s first class trips to Europe will count against his court-imposed community service time?
Yeah, of course it will; what was I thinking?
Pyeongchang was blessed to get one of the largest dumps of snow in years whilst the IOC was visiting this winter. That may help. A lot. Nothing uglier than man-made snow-covered slopes surrounded by brown death everywhere else. That’s Korea. I bet ya the no-snow Vancouver games are still fresh in everyone’s mind. There’s also the environmental issues of running those sno makers 24×7, or flying in snow, as was done in Vancouver. The IOC likes to think it is environmentally friendly. Worse comes to worse Korea could fly in snow from Hokkaido; they have too much of it. If Korea isn’t awarded it expect bid for 2022. And then 2026.
Aw, c’mon now. You’re too suspicious.
You worry too much, Robert, about legal action against you by unnamed chaebol slimebags.
The problem in Vancouver and Whistler was the mild temperatures before and for most of the games which resulted in barely replacing the melting snow. Pyeongchang’s cold enough but the major problem is where do they hold the downhill and GS? The downhill especially is a marquee, if not the marquee event of the winter Olympics and unless they construct a bigger mountain the event will be a joke.
Although all that material removed to construct the four rivers could be put to a good use.
True it’s cold, but no snow ought it make it a no go. Here’s an excerpt from an IOC Working Group Report published in 2010: “Average snow depth in the primary mountain zone Alpensia is 37.1cm. Average snow depth in Jungbong (alpine skiing (speed)) over the last 10 years appears very low at 7.3 cm…”
Good point about the diminutive mountains. In the region Seorak is 1700m and everything else is less than 1500m. Pyeongchang’s bid book states the Alpine events will be at Jungbong and Yongpyong Resort. The downhill and GS appear to be at Jungbong. I can’t find much about this place – appears it hasn’t been developed and won’t open until 2016. Whistler’s highest lift goes to approx. 2300m. Over 200 trails. Longest run is 7km. Vertical drop is 1.6km. The closest ski resort to Jungbong is Alpensia, and that’s basically a bunny hill abutting car parks. I reckon that Jungbong must have an elevation and drop that betters Yongpyong and compares well to other slopes on the downhill circuit. But if it’s under development and won’t be ready until a season or two before the Olympics, this means skiers will be unfamiliar with the mountain. I wonder why the development of Jungbong hasn’t happened. Whether or not Korea is awarded the games having a top-notch complex may improve its skiers and may even attract top skiers from the land to the west.
I’m thinking North Korea has the only mountains on the peninsula of the caliber needed for Olympic-level downhill skiing, and probably has the cold weather to address the snow concerns. All the more reason to hurry up and help the Royal Kims join the Ceaucescus in that great dustbin in the sky.
Has anyone on Korea’s bid committee actually gone skiing there? Or bothered to notice that snowfall there is both mediocre AND unpredictable?
Yes, and yes.
But this child of the Sierra Nevada would appreciate the development both of ski/snowboard facilities and of popularity among the non-rich Korean populace.
Sorry, that sounds like I’m on the bid committee, LOL. But I’ve skied at least once every winter (despite my budget), and the Koreans I meet certainly tend toward the set that would be represented on the bid committee.
I recall a very entertaining article in the asiatimes (was it?) last time this issue came up, contrasting what Korea’s ski-land is like to what an international crowd would want. Too bad I’m too lazy to look it up.
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