Seoul, March 13 (BNA): Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon told Reuters that Seoul will continue with its bid to host the 2036 Summer Games without reviving efforts to co-host an Olympics with the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.
Amid hopes of improving relations with the nuclear-armed North, Seoul has sent a proposal to co-host the 2032 Olympics with Pyongyang to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2021, before naming Brisbane as the host city.
“I think the 2032 strategy was doomed to failure because of the unpredictability of inter-Korean relations,” Oh said in an interview.
The 2032 joint bid sought to build on the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics hosted by the South in 2018, where athletes from the two Koreas marched under a united flag at the opening ceremony and fielded a joint women’s ice hockey team.
Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, welcomed the joint bid at the time as a “historic initiative”.
But relations have soured again since then, and North Korea has tested a record number of ballistic missiles in the past year, according to Reuters.
Pyongyang routinely trades threats with Seoul and its allies in Washington, where officials say North Korea may be preparing to resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time since 2017.
Oh said Seoul will remain flexible toward the idea of holding some events in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) or Pyongyang if relations have improved enough by then.
An official with the Korea Sports and Olympic Committee (KSOC) said it had not received official data on intentions from Seoul or the southern city of Busan for the 2036 bid.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that it was up to individual cities in consultation with the national government to decide whether to host jointly with Pyongyang.
Among the potential contenders for the Games, Qatar is expected to make a push to host the event after successfully staging the soccer World Cup last year, while India, Germany and Egypt are also reported to be considering bidding.
Mexico also threw its hat into the ring in the 2036 game