PyeongChang
The Olympics Effect
“The whole notion of unification is now withering away in South Korea” - Kyung Moon Hwang
The map above depicts Korea's Demilitarized Zone, the Gangwon province, and the location of PyeongChang. The arrow between PyeongChang and the DMZ marks the 40 mile distance between the two. The close proximity was an advertised selling point of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang; the county hoped to show tourists that PyeongChang was safe and that it did not live up to the stigma of it being a dangerous area.
Politics: Feelings on Unification
- Disagreement
South Koreans backlash on Pyongyang's participation in the PyeongChang Olympics
At 0:47 in this video, it can be seen that South Korean citizens did not think that a joint team was necessary for the 2018 Olympics. Park Yoo-jean, who speaks at 1:10 in the video, mentions that it may not be the right timing for an attempt to reconcile with North Korea, since the country was not on good terms with any other country internationally. The discontent with South Korean citizens over the shared flag with North Korea is continued at 2:02, showing that a higher percent of citizens believe the athletes should march under separate flags.
- Optimism
Some people believed that marching under one flag and having a joint team would follow the Olympic spirit, and that it would ease tensions with the North.
“The image of two divided countries, still at war, marching under a ‘one Korea’ flag echoes the Olympic spirit.” - Song Jung-yeop
Environmental Damage: Repairable?
The image to the right is of Mount Gariwang, mentioned previously. This mountain has 500 year old forest that had a large number of trees felled in order to make room for the ski slopes for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
To the right is a petition for the Olympic Committee to stop the destruction of the ancient forest on Mount Gariwang. The Olympic games have progressively become more sustainable as the world becomes more environmentally aware, but the partial bulldozing of Mount Gariwang was viewed as an Olympic casualty. Due to lack of funding from the South Korean government, there is little hope for Mount Gariwang's sacred forest to ever recover.
Travel through the map on the left to Athens, Greece, to see the effects of the 2004 Summer Olympics on the environment. Continue the journey to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Finally, view the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Throughout history, the Olympic games have brought destruction to the environments and economies of these locations that they are hosted, usually providing benefits and prestige to the country but having a negative outcome for the city or county it is held in.
Economical Impact
The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics left small, local business owners with large debts due to the costs of infrastructure and because the businesses, such as small ski resorts, couldn't make a profit. There was an unfulfilled promise of economic prosperity, as the Olympic areas of PyeongChang became practical ghost towns with few people visiting compared to the influx of visitors during the Global Sporting Event. The stadiums and buildings used during the Olympics for events are now closed, or draining funds for upkeep even though they aren't boosting the economy of the county.
Summary
- The 2018 Olympics, hosted by the county PyeongChang in the Gangwon province of South Korea, was named the "Peace Olympics" and had hoped to repair relations with North Korea, but tensions are still heightened today after the peace summits fell through. North Korea remains uncooperative.
- PyeongChang's sacred forest on Mount Gariwang has still not recovered due to lack of funding and interest by the national government, and the Olympic buildings and infrastructure remains being hardly used with a small number of visitors. This theme can be seen throughout Olympic history.
- The locals of PyeongChang and the local government are riddled with debt as they attempt to upkeep the stadia and other buildings used during the Olympics.
- South Korea as a whole gets the prestige of being one of the few countries to have hosted a trifecta of international sports events (The World Cup in 2002, and Seoul Summer Olympic Games in 1988), while the small host county suffers.
The impact that the host country gets from hosting the Olympics may be beneficial to the country, but for the small county who has to pay the debts brought about from the Games, there are negative impacts. They have to pay off the expenditures from the damages to the environment and the draining upkeep of Olympic infrastructure. Since there is no significant increase in tourism that lingers after the Olympic Games to PyeongChang because the county is small and doesn't offer much to tourists on its own, the Games leave a devastating impact that will have generations of citizens in PyeongChang paying off debts.
