Koreas have come a long way since the North bombed a plane before 1988 Seoul Olympics
South Korea is gearing up to host the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics starting with Friday’s opening ceremony for the 2,925 athletes from 92 countries, the largest ever in winter games history. Among them will be 22 athletes from communist neighbor North Korea, a team officially welcomed to participate at the last minute by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The Koreas, still technically at war despite their 1953 Armistice Agreement, have agreed to march together into the opening ceremony and form a joint team for women’s ice hockey.
But the political and diplomatic rapprochement is in stark contrast to three decades ago when the South last hosted the Olympics in Seoul during the summer of 1988. It was a geopolitical mess with boycotts and the mid-air bombing of Seoul-bound Korean Air Flight 858.
After Seoul’s 1981 selection as host of the 1988 games, North Korea sent complaints to the IOC demanding rights to co-host the event. The idea was even backed by then-Cuban President Fidel Castro, one of several North Korean allies.
The North demanded in a 1985 letter written by its IOC representative that 11 of the 23 sporting events take place in its territory.
The IOC subsequently convened special meetings in Switzerland in January 1986 with the Olympic Committees of the North and the South, with Pyongyang also insisting on hosting the special opening and closing ceremonies and a united team. The IOC rejected most of those demands but still counteroffered with six of the sporting events the North had requested.
