Rioting Not Yet a Threat to Olympics : IOC Vice President Says It’s Too Early to Pull Out of Seoul

In 1906, Mt. Vesuvius erupted, virtually destroying several villages and burdening the Italian government with so many financial difficulties that it could not afford the 1908 Olympic Games, which had been awarded to Rome. London became the alternative site.

There has been an eruption of a different sort recently in Seoul, South Korea, which has been selected as the host city for the 1988 Summer Olympics, scheduled for Sept. 17-Oct 2.

Violent anti-government demonstrations in Seoul and other South Korean cities have led to speculation that the Olympics might have to be either canceled or moved to another city. Mentioned as possibilities have been the sites of the last two Summer Games, Moscow and Los Angeles. Mayor Tom Bradley said Thursday he has offered Los Angeles to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an alternative if Seoul is unable to fulfill its commitment.

But Richard Pound, an IOC vice president from Canada, said Thursday such speculation is premature and that the IOC has not considered the possibility that Seoul will not be able to play host to the Games.

“Certainly, you don’t want to start commenting on speculation,” he said. “I can’t think of anything more calculated to increase the difficulties than for a whole bunch of people to start speculating about the site being changed.”

Pound, a Montreal attorney, made his remarks after delivering the keynote address here at the annual meeting of the U.S. Olympic Academy. His speech was appropriately titled, “How the IOC Is Facing Critical Political Issues Today.”

But Pound said he does not consider the turmoil in Seoul a critical issue for the IOC, at least not yet.

“We’re 15 months out from the Games,” he said. “It’s not unlikely to expect a fair amount of agitation and trouble leading up to the (South Korean presidential) election at the end of the year. There’s a transition of power contemplated for the end of February. So you’re still seven or eight months ahead of the game at that point.

“My inclination is that those of us in the Olympic movement want to let the Koreans solve their problems in their own way and make an assessment of it much, much closer to the Games.”

But how close is too close? Can another city, even one such as Moscow or Los Angeles that already has the facilities, realistically stage the Games with only a few months notice? Cities usually have at least six years to prepare.

“It’s not really feasible,” Pound admitted. “The logistics of organizing the Games are pretty massive. You’ve got to clear out the facilities and bring them up to speed. You’ve got to rearrange commitments that may already exist for stadiums and so on. You need infrastructure for the media, access to hotel rooms and the Olympic village. That’s not the sort of thing you do in a couple of months.”

Yet, when asked if he believes the IOC is taking a risk by not considering a contingency plan, he said: “No, I think it’s riskier to have one. I think it would just encourage destabilization of the situation.

“All I can say is we have no contingency plan whatsoever at this stage. If the Koreans came to us and said, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t do it,’ which I don’t think they will at this point, we’d certainly have to put our heads together and see what to do.”

South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan, who has promised to relinquish power in February, told reporters last fall that domestic stability is more of a priority to the government than the Olympics. Pound said the IOC expects to learn more about the government’s position during meetings at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, July 14-15 with Korean Olympic Committee officials.

Those meetings were planned to resume negotiations between South Korea and North Korea, which has demanded to organize 8 of the 23 sports in the Games. South Korea has offered two entire sports and parts of two others.

According to the prevailing theory before last week, if North Korea can be satisfied, there is virtually no chance that other communist countries, including the Soviet Union, will boycott the Games.

But while it does not appear that most communist countries will boycott regardless of the outcome of the North Korea-South Korea talks, the demonstrations in Seoul have created a new tension. Soviet Bloc officials cited security concerns in Los Angeles as one reason for boycotting the 1984 Summer Games.

A Soviet political commentator, Valery Korzin, said on Moscow television Thursday the Games should not be held in Seoul if the political unrest continues.

Soviet government officials have not said whether they will send a team to the Games. The deadline for committing is Jan. 17, four months after the IOC sends invitations.

The IOC awarded the Games to Seoul at the 1981 session in Baden Baden, West Germany. The only other city to bid was Nagoya, Japan, which was considered the favorite until Seoul officials overwhelmed IOC members with their presentation.

“In retrospect, this was probably not our greatest decision,” Pound said. “We made a decision destined to cause political problems.

“But on the basis of cities and their ability to organize the Games, this was the perfectly reasonable decision at the time.”

He said he does not regret the decision.

“I don’t think any person in Korea, whatever party, wants the Games to be moved,” he said. “I think everyone in Korea is totally committed to making the Games a success.”

Asked about the comparison by opposition party leader Kim Young Sam of the 1988 Seoul Games to the 1936 Nazi Olympics in Berlin, Pound said: “You say a lot of things in the process of seeking political office that are not necessarily what you would do or think if you get that office.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that for leverage purposes up to and including the election people will try to use the Olympics. But whatever happens, when it comes time for the Games, when it comes time for them to say yes or no to the Games, they’re going to say yes.”

Responding to the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s call for a U.S. boycott of the Games to protest the South Korean government’s policies, Pound said: “One thing that has to be resolved is the fact we have the Games in a year in which your country has a presidential election. We’ve already seen some comments that really don’t have much bearing on anything other than the election.”

Also speaking before the Olympic Academy on Thursday, Gen. George Miller, executive director of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said he has spoken by telephone with Jackson.

“His theory is that the human rights of the people of Korea are being violated by the government, and, therefore, the United States should take the initiative to boycott the Games,” Miller said. “He has a reasonable concern.

“But that is really not my concern. What I tried to get across to him is that this movement is not a political movement. This is a movement that tries to avoid political issues where it can. The one goodness of this movement is that it tends to bridge these political problems. It tends to bring people together regardless of political problems.

“Therefore, it is entirely inappropriate that the movement be used in trying to solve political problems. If the idea of the United States leading a boycott in order to bring attention to what may be perceived as a violation of human rights, we do not think this is the proper thing to do.

“The question of the safety of athletes is an entirely different issue. Naturally, neither the International Olympic Committee nor the United States Olympic Committee nor any other Olympic committee is going to subject its athletes to a situation in which they may be put at a very high risk.

“Only time will tell us what that risk may be. To judge that today is entirely premature. There is no way we’re going to sit down and decide today whether or not we will send athletes to Korea.

“But there is no reason to believe at this point that we will not be there.”