The Koreans don't waste time. A year after the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games, they have already opened a new Olympic file. Its cover page is marked with the year 2032. Inside, the project for a joint candidacy between the two neighbors of the peninsula, South Korea and North Korea. Historical.
The Korean file will gain even more depth this Monday, February 11. The South Korean National Olympic Committee (KSOC) meets in a general assembly. On the agenda, the vote for the candidate city for the Summer Games in 2032.
In the running, two metropolises. On one side, the capital, Seoul. The most natural choice. Opposite, the second city in the country in terms of number of inhabitants, Busan, a port city in the south-east of the country.
The two cities have already submitted an application file to the national Olympic committee. A KSOC delegation visited Seoul and Busan between January 23 and 25, 2019. The national organization must decide this Monday by a secret ballot.
Seoul hosted the Summer Games in 1988. Busan, population 3,7 million, hosted the Asian Games in 2002.
The timing seems very premature. The campaign for the Summer Games in 2032 will not begin before 2023, for an IOC vote which could take place in the second half of 2025. But the calendar encourages the Koreans to anticipate things.
The president of KSOC must go to Lausanne at the end of the week. Accompanied by the South Korean Minister of Sports, he is due to meet Thomas Bach on Friday February 15, at the IOC headquarters. The tripartite meeting will also involve North Korean officials. Officially, there will be talk of the Tokyo 2020 Games, and of a possible unified team, at least in certain sports.
But the envoys from Seoul want to take advantage of this to further advance their pawns in the perspective of a joint candidacy of the two countries for the Summer Games in 2032. They want to go to Lausanne having already chosen which city would carry the project on the south side. Korean.
According to a first report unveiled last December, the budget allocated by South Korea for joint Olympic and Paralympic Games with the North in 2032 would amount to 3,9 billion won (3,06 billion euros). The North Korean share is not yet known.
Thomas Bach makes no secret of it: the rapprochement of the two Koreas, which began at the PyeongChang Games before materializing in a historic meeting between Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un, must continue on the Olympic field. In these difficult times, the IOC needs it to improve its communication.
« The two Korean leaders, South Korean President Moon and North Korean President Kim, have asked us to continue to support their rapprochement talks with actions in sports, we do so, explained Thomas Bach. In a few days, we will meet with the two governments and the two national Olympic committees, to see how the IOC can contribute to peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the world."
Seoul or Busan? The choice is not trivial. But it should not be decisive. In any case, a bid by the two Koreas for the Summer Games in 2032 would carry considerable weight. She would be hard to beat.
