What if war breaks out before Feb 2018?

[StefanMUC]

Well...there was a bid for 2018 which wouldn‘t have given the IOC headaches...at least not of that sort..

Sour grapes, I know.

[stryker]

It really appears like a perfect storm is forming over Pyeongchang. You have the low ticket sales (though I've read where Koreans are often last minute shoppers), the tensions on the peninsula, and a questionable legacy for many of the venues. I don't doubt the IOC is having all sorts of headaches right now. Publicly, they're talking about how great Pyeongchang is going to be, but privately, there has to be some alarm bells going off, especially with the 2026 race officially getting underway next year.

[Ikarus360]

39 minutes ago, StefanMUC said:

Well...there was a bid for 2018 which wouldn‘t have given the IOC headaches...at least not of that sort..

Sour grapes, I know.

The sad truth is back then no one could had predicted US would get such a moron as president, who only contributed to worsen stuff more than it already was. And back in the day there was still the unwritten rule of not holding the olympics consequtively at the same continent (not that it matters anymore anyway due to how the world works now ever since).

But yeah...when I see all this happening right now, I start to understand why Pyeongchang lost against Vancouver back in 2003 (no, I won't mention Sochi. Everyone knows Sochi won because of Putin and his money influence)

 

21 minutes ago, stryker said:

It really appears like a perfect storm is forming over Pyeongchang. You have the low ticket sales (though I've read where Koreans are often last minute shoppers), the tensions on the peninsula, and a questionable legacy for many of the venues. I don't doubt the IOC is having all sorts of headaches right now. Publicly, they're talking about how great Pyeongchang is going to be, but privately, there has to be some alarm bells going off, especially with the 2026 race officially getting underway next year.

I read the low ticket sale is mostly, ironically, from koreans themselves. People abroad the world seem to be more interested in buying tickets. About the legacy, yeah....Korea doesn't has a good reputation about the legacy stuff. They love building white elephants which quickly become forgotten after some years. The Seoul olympic stadium was left to rot for a long time until a team finally picked the stadium as their home not too long ago. 

 

[FYI]

On 9/14/2017 at 7:57 AM, Ikarus360 said:

And this is why PC never won over Vancouver and Sochi back in the day despite having a very solid bid.

Sucks to have complete psychos as your neighbours. Also I think a NK boycott will probably happen (not that most of us care anyway)

Right, bcuz being blown up by 'psycho' Chechen rebels is so much better. 

Has everyone already forgotten how high the tension was right before the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. Where the U.S. was going to have a *Battleship* on "standby" in the Black Sea "just in case" they needed to evacuate the U.S. Delagation ASAP from Sochi. 

And Vancouver (barely) won 2010 bcuz some in the IOC more than likely didn't want to immediately return to Asia right after Beijing 2008. Had nothing to do bcuz South Korea has 'complete psychos as their neighbors'. If that was really the logic behind PC's very slim losses for 2010 & 2014, then they wouldn't have won 2018 by a *landslide*. 

These concerns right now were all over the place right before the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics, too. And nothing serious happened then. So I seriously doubt that we'll see any major issues now, either (unless of course that little guy has a death wish). Like every lead-up to every Olympics, there will always be the stories & the (hyped) media of - "oh no, these Olympics are going to be a disaster, etc, etc", & 2018 isn't really shaping up any different in that aspect.

[FYI]

3 hours ago, stryker said:

France has threatened to withdraw from the Pyeongchang Olympics over the security situation on the Korean Peninsula. Interesting that they timed this after Paris was officially awarded the 2024 Olympics

The French need to tread very carefully here. Cuz they don't want the South Koreans' retaliating in the same way over "terrorism concerns" come the summer of 2024, either.

[BTHarner]

Nothing is going to happen, the Games will come and go and then people will start fretting about going to Tokyo because it's too close to North Korea.  The odds are better that you'll catch the Zika virus in February in South Korea than being killed by a North Korean missile. People are so gullible these days.

[StefanMUC]

The difference to 1988 is called Donald Trump - we simply don't know how erratic and impulsive he really is in the matter of North Korea. And Kim III is perfectly exploiting this uncertainty.

[FYI]

Ronald Reagan in the 80's was also suppose to be erratic & impulsive. That he was nothing but an "ex-actor nitwit & intellectual lightweight". A "dangerous cowboy" that wasn't fit to be president, either, & was also compared to Hitler. That he was going to bring us to war with the Soviet Union, Iran (& whoever else stood in our way) & immediately create WWIII as soon as he got into office. I still remember hearing those things when I was a little kid & he was president & it would terrify me. Well, needless to say, that didn't happen. 

Yeah, Trump has a VERY big mouth. But I still think that his bark is far worse than his actual bite. I mean just look at how much of a pansy he is with Putin. As if they're the best of buds (but quite frankly, that's who Trump should be more leery of anyway). I'm starting to believe, though, that Pence will be the next Cheney, where he will be making the real big decisions anyway behind closed White House doors. 

[Ikarus360]

So much for the Olympic Truce/relations improving since September....

North Korea launches new ballistic missile

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42160227

And here I was thinking this drama was solved. Thanks a lot, Trump. 

 

[Ikarus360]

Seems like North Korea will participate in PC2018, after Kim Jong Un speech for New Year, expressing his wishes of sending a delegation and wishing Pyeongchang the best of success. Their Paralympic delegation is also training at the moment to take part.

I guess this will put an end to the North Korea drama for good and give more insurance to both countries and spectators about the security of these games.

 

[Ikarus360]

Good thing not every senator in the US is a lunatic like this guy 

 

[StefanMUC]

Too bad there's no gold medal for the biggest nuclear button...would have fitted well in the golden Trump Tower.

[BTHarner]

4 hours ago, Ikarus360 said:

Good thing not every senator in the US is a lunatic like this guy 

 

He also wanted to boycott Sochi.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/07/lindsey-graham-wants-ruin-2014-olympics-over-edward-snowden/313264/

 

[Ikarus360]

Good thing everyone will most likely ignore him like in 2014, then. I think we all learned the lesson after 1980 that political boycotts don't help anyone.

[Ikarus360]

Me: Hey SK, how's that unified team and treaties with NK going so far?

SK: 

 

[Ikarus360]

Moon might be the second president after Temer to get booed at an opening ceremony . People aren't taking very well the whole thing with letting NK athletes in. 

Can't blame them, though. After all the crap they caused during 2017 it's very normal most South Koreans would feel like this. I mean, I would feel like that too. 

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/south-korea-apos-president-drops-112921810.html

Quote

South Korea's president drops in polls as few support plan to include North Koreans on Olympic team

• South Korea's President Moon Jae In's popularity has dipped after a series of political dust-ups and disapproval of including North Koreans in South Korean Olympic endeavors.
• South Korean and North Korean women will compete in hockey, with the North Korean athletes being included in the game for political reasons, rather than their merit as athletes.
• South Korea's Ministry of National Defense warned that North Korea's diplomatic efforts could actually be a front to weaken the US-South Korean alliance.

While South Korea's President Moon Jae In talks up the recent wave of negotiations with North Korea as making inroads to denuclearization and peace, the majority of South Koreans don't like the deals being made.

NHK, Japan's national broadcaster, cites multiple polls as saying 70% of South Koreans don't want a joint Korean women's hockey team at the PyeongChang Games.

Young people, who supported Moon and helped him win the presidency after former South Korean President Park Geun-hye was removed from office after an influence-peddling scheme came to light, disapprove of the joint team most, according to NHK.

The joint team, which will include North Korean women playing alongside South Korean women in a move more based on Korean unity and inclusion than the merit of the athletes, has been heavily supported by Moon.

But recent polls show that Moon's popularity has taken a hit, falling to a four-month low. Moon has been accused by past presidents of targeting them with investigations as a means of political retaliation, crafting confusing cryptocurrency policy, and now including North Korean athletes in South Korean teams at the expense of the fans.

Moon's approval now stands at 67.1%, according to South Korea's Yonhap News. It was as high as 85.3% in August last year.

Though Moon has long desired talks with North Korea and sees them as a "precious chance to open the door" to peace, South Korea's Ministry of National Defense has warned that Pyongyang's diplomatic efforts could be an "attempt to weaken ROK – US cooperation."

 

[Ikarus360]

Drama going on after this rap song defacing the Government at what many think was "capitulating" to North Korea and turning the Olympics into Pyongyang 2018 (I agree screwing up the poor female Hockey team was just Moon Jae In trying too hard to make Kim Jong Un happy ). Just take a look at the likes the video got. This speaks for itself of how the majority of south koreans feel. 

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-42917511

Quote

A YouTube song criticising the South Korean government over the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics has begun an online national debate.

The Regret for Pyeonchang song was produced and uploaded to the video-sharing platform by an account called "Boy Bugs".

The song criticises the South Korean government for turning the Olympics into North Korea's propaganda tool, among other decisions around the Games.

North Korea will send a delegation, including 22 athletes and a group of cheerleaders, to take part in the Games after both nations struck a deal last month.

The four-minute long rap video has been watched almost a million times in the past week. More than 35,000 people liked - and 2,400 disliked - the video.

The term "Regret For Pyeongchang" has been trending on Naver and Daum, two major Korean websites, since Monday 30 January.

The song complains about the South Korean national flag being hidden, replaced by the North Korean flag. It says there is no "fairness or hope" for South Korea's women ice hockey players, who will play in a joint team with the North at the games.

The song also replaces the name of South Korean host city Pyeongchang with Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.

The song has generated mixed reactions from online users in South Korea, with some agreeing with the lyrics.

Adrien Kim, an influential Facebook user with more than 9,000 followers, commented: "I would like to see this song getting more than 100 million views. I wonder why South Korea has to cave in to everything to make North Korea feel better.

"I don't understand why South Korea's women ice hockey players have to make a sacrifice just because the South Korean government is fond of North Korea?"

A Naver user posted: "The song helps South Korean people in their 20s and 30s to gather and voice their complaints about the government's irrational behaviours."

"I agree with every single lyric of the song. It's the best song of 2018. I really want president Moon Jae-in and his supporters to listen to it," said another user.

However, not everyone agrees with the song's message.

Some users have made a petition to the South Korean government's official channel demanding action against the song's producer for defamation and spreading false rumours.

A user who signed the petition said, "there is a difference between freedom of creation and fabricating… the song talks about false information as if it was true."

The Winter Olympics will get under way in Pyeongchang on Friday 9 February.

Part of me is glad the 2020 Olympics might be drama free so we might be able to take a rest from all of this political bullcrap we've been having since 2014. Too bad 2022 will be filled with drama again for sure because of China and their low Human Rights Record/Tibet/etcetera.

[anthonyliberatori]

This situation in Korea is getting somewhat worrisome. Between the hacking and now this song, I really hope the security personnel are ready for these Games. Four delegations from prospective 2026 bids will be out in Pyeongchang, and an attack of any kind will drive them all away. And the last thing we need is another China Vs. Kazakhstan race.  

 

I too am excited for a (hopefully) drama-free 2020. The political and structural issues of both Sochi and Rio took away from the overall Games as a whole, and these events in Pyeongchang are casting a poor shadow on such great preparation on South Korea's part. I hope they can be resolved and do not become a lasting legacy of the Games, as South Korea worked for over a decade on bringing the Games to Pyeongchang, and they really do deserve to reap all the benefits that they can.