By Will the third time be the charm for Pyeongchang?
One day ahead of the announcement of the host, PyeongChang is trying to attract IOC votes by emphasizing the city as the new frontier of Winter Sports in Asia.
“The bid to host the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang is to expand the Olympic movement to attract new spectators,” said Cho Yang-ho, chairman of the bid committee in the first official press conference. “This is what we mean by New Horizons. We do not mean new facilities, but giving a new dream to the next generation,” Cho said. (………………)
Park Yong-sung, the chairman of the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC), said that he never thought about not winning the right to host the games.
Korea brought notable figures including President Lee Myung-bak, reigning Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na and Koreanborn U.S. medalist Toby Dawson to bolster its bid to win the games on its third-attempt bid. [Korea Times]
Read the rest at the link, but there is a closed room vote coming up that will determine who will host the games.
She hasn’t seen...
4:56 pm on July 5th, 2011 1
Hookers, blow and a little walking around money usually work best.
5:15 pm on July 5th, 2011 2
#1,
Closed room voting? Why the lack of transparency?
5:36 pm on July 5th, 2011 3
Had any lessons been learned since the 2002 Olympics Salt Lake City ‘selection’ process?
5:58 pm on July 5th, 2011 4
#3,
That was just the tip of the iceberg.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/olympics_2012/3939219.stm
Hookers, booze, and cash is pretty much how most, if not all, winning bids have been won.
5:58 pm on July 5th, 2011 5
Sorry S. Korea but you don’t deserve it, for the simple and obvious reason of having a criminal represent you…
http://www.koreaherald.com/business/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110510000247
And being a convicted tax evader, how is it that he thinks he’s a good spokesman to…
http://www.koreaittimes.com/story/15182/lee-kun-hee-says-root-out-corruption-and-illegalities
5:59 pm on July 5th, 2011 6
#5,
So you would think…
But as I was saying: hookers, booze, and cash.
6:04 pm on July 5th, 2011 7
…Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive.
6:30 pm on July 5th, 2011 8
boring comments
7:46 pm on July 5th, 2011 9
Isn’t there a poll just out stating 93.5% of ROK middle schoolers would defect to North Korea if the South failed to win the bid to host the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang? Could have sworn I read something sort of like that recently.
7:53 pm on July 5th, 2011 10
…and Koreans seem to spend an inordinate amount of time, treasure, national (patriotic) energy, etc to win these events. Is it really such a big deal? Do they even turn a profit? Is artificial prestige so very important to the national psyche? Or is it a few Chaebols who stand to pocket the cheese?
I don’t know. There are quite a few other (worthy) things Koreans could be proud of. Kick ass internet access and speed, a near 100% literacy rate, mass transit systems… What is the deal with these bullshit events?
8:01 pm on July 5th, 2011 11
I hope they don’t get it. I don’t want to see any more ESL people getting hoppig mad, indignant, angry, bitter, suicidal, and dump on Korea, for the next few years until the games start and finish. Let the white countries have the games.
8:04 pm on July 5th, 2011 12
# 11,
Other things to be proud of such as “Kick ass internet access and speed…,”
And governmental ministries such as the Education etc…schools stealing Microsoft Word and other software.
8:21 pm on July 5th, 2011 13
#13 I steal Word and other software*. It would be hypocritical of me to slam the MoE.
*I would consider paying for it if it were reasonably priced
8:28 pm on July 5th, 2011 14
As opposed to criminals running the actual bid (cough… Salt Lake).
But at least it helped Mitt Romeny launch his career in the aftermath and give all the Masschusettsians universal health care. 
What?! Kick-ass Internet access is just for downloading illegal music and watching porn, literacy rate is calculated by only testing people who can read, and the mass transit system is full of drunk ajuhshees.
Next?
8:45 pm on July 5th, 2011 15
Leon LaPorte wrote:
So you’re one of those Americans responsible for something like one-third of all software in American being, ahem, unauthorized.
Since tbonetylr has never downloaded anything illegal (because that would make him a hypocrite, right?), I guess he can’t understand your argument about fighting The Man when it comes to ridiculous software prices that are structured under the assumption that private individuals will probably get it illegally while corporations that can be checked will have to pay for it.
Actually, I’m a little curious about the MS Word claim specifically, since I thought MS deliberately tried to wipe out HWP (when HWP maker Hangul&Computer decided not to sell to MS) by providing it for free or very cheap as part of their OS. Maybe they don’t do that anymore; I haven’t owned a PC in Korea since my company bought one back in 2004. We paid legitimately for the OS and it came with MS Word. All legit.
9:18 pm on July 5th, 2011 16
The politicians are busy selling this as a good idea despite the fact that hosting the Olympics is almost always a money loser because their backers stand to make a killing on the realestate and the construction contracts.
9:30 pm on July 5th, 2011 17
White people downloading illegally and using unlicensed software, is totally different from Koreans doing the same. What the Koreans are doing are what we call pirating. White people, all they’re doing is being smart, so it’s not the same thing, Kushibo. What a nitwit.
9:53 pm on July 5th, 2011 18
Tom wrote:
I’m mostly with you on that sarcastic sentiment there, Tom, as long as it’s not me you’re calling a nitwit.
9:57 pm on July 5th, 2011 19
I believe the Seoul Olympiad made several hundred million dollars in the end, didn’t it?
I’m not sure about the World Cup, which is a bit of an apples-and-oranges comparison because it’s a bit more spread-out, has fewer events (?), but requires more spending on venues if they’re not already there.
I think South Korea would turn a profit or at least break even, while upping the national image in terms of being associated with winter activities, which would be a long-term boost to the tourism and leisure sector. Even more so when/if the DPRK collapses and there is a unified Korea looking for ways to develop northern resources.
9:58 pm on July 5th, 2011 20
#19,
If you had any brains, you’d know that being smart is using open-source software. Going through the trouble of downloading and installing a pirated copy of MS Office or Hangul? Pure lunacy. Download a free copy of Open Office in the language of your choice, you’ll thank me.
10:01 pm on July 5th, 2011 21
“I believe the Seoul Olympiad made several hundred million dollars in the end, didn’t it? ”
Did you read carefully my comment? The Seoul Olympics is the only time in recent memory that the games have turned a profit for the host, something which probably won’t ever be replicated.
PS. How did the 2002 World Cup turn out for South Korea in terms of return on investment?
10:08 pm on July 5th, 2011 22
Individuals using pirated software are a whole lot different than government and corporate institutions doing it.
If you are using pirated Microsoft Office software, you are probably not getting all the security updates for it and with the spate of hack attacks specifically targeting governments and corporations, you are asking for it. Your computer security manager should be fired.
If you need office software, try LibreOffice (spin-off from OpenOffice). It does everything and more, and it’s FREE.
10:18 pm on July 5th, 2011 23
Teadrinker, I tried the Open Office route, and there was something just so ungraceful about it. I tried NeoOffice, too, and I didn’t care for it.
In ended up splitting the three licenses that came with the US$150 student edition with two other grad students, fifty bucks a pop. It was worth it, and apparently legal*.
* Disclaimer: may not actually be legal
10:25 pm on July 5th, 2011 24
#28,
Get the latest edition.
150$ for the student edition? If I were you I’d have still taken with the open-source route on principle alone.
A bit off topic, but remember how Microsoft was in trouble about a decade ago for it’s business practices? Well, as this was going on, in late 90′s, you could get a copy of Word 97 for 10000 won here while it was 130$ in North American…They were dumping the product in the local market to compete with Hangul 97, which sold for the whopping sum of 14000 won.
10:26 pm on July 5th, 2011 25
#27, at least half of corporations in the West are using some kind of illegal licensed software, who are you kidding? Look at the list of worst offending countries, as named by the US office.
http://www.theesa.com/newsroom/release_detail.asp?releaseID=146
Canada is in one of the worst offender list. And I’m sure the US is on the similar level.. but since they’re the ones accusing others…
South Korea on the other hand, has just recently done a lot, a whole lot more than most Western countries, to clean up and illegalize piracy through downloading.
It’s really laughable Canadians and Americans moralizing and accusing South Korea of the things that are now much more common in the West.
10:28 pm on July 5th, 2011 26
Teadrinker wrote:
Yes, I read carefully your comment.
Not sure where you said the Seoul games turned a profit. You did say “almost always,” but didn’t the Los Angeles Olympiad also turn a profit? (asking not say) I thought Atlanta also (just barely) made a profit. If I’m right and at least those three turned a profit, that’s a bit more than “almost always” losing money, at least in recent memory.
But the main point I was making was that…
… if any country is likely to make a profit, it might be the one with experience making a profit before.
10:34 pm on July 5th, 2011 27
#33,
I stand by my comment that they almost always never turn a profit. Most who do turn a profit only do so on paper when using creative accounting practices which don’t take into consideration the maintenance cost of the facilities once the games are done.
10:37 pm on July 5th, 2011 28
#35,
Oh, come on. If she was Korean, she wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb in that picture. Look at that dress, that hat, and the blue hair. It screams “I’m a British granny”.
10:37 pm on July 5th, 2011 29
“South Korea on the other hand, has just recently done a lot, a whole lot more than most Western countries, to clean up and illegalize piracy through downloading.”
How so? Really. What has S. Korea done? I’ve noticed no difference. There are still pirate stores on every corner in Dongducheon. Software is everywhere at the Electronics market and I could download anything I want, right now. What are you talking about?
10:38 pm on July 5th, 2011 30
Teadrinker said to Tom:
Point of information: It was tbonetylr, NOT Tom that gratuitously brought up illegal software downloads, in #13.
This was after he brought up corruption in #5 and then gleefully mentioning the possibility of suicides in Pyongychang loses in #9.
Frankly, I think Tom’s misanthropic attempt at trolling on the marine-massacre post warrants at least a warning.
10:45 pm on July 5th, 2011 31
Teadrinker wrote:
I actually was at an event centered around the Queen when she was in Seoul back then, and I spent about fifteen minutes standing about twenty feet from her. Though a British granny in some respects, she was quite elegant and had a special air about her. Perhaps the last of the truly dignified royals, she is.
But yeah, she’s not a descendant of a garlic-eating bear.
10:51 pm on July 5th, 2011 32
“Perhaps the last of the truly dignified royals, she is.
But yeah, she’s not a descendant of a garlic-eating bear.”
Well. I’ll have you know she’s as English as Queen Victoria!
11:01 pm on July 5th, 2011 33
#40,
“But yeah, she’s not a descendant of a garlic-eating bear.”
Indeed…She’s German.
11:02 pm on July 5th, 2011 34
“Well. I’ll have you know she’s as English as Queen Victoria!”
Well, Queen Victoria mostly spoke German.
11:45 pm on July 5th, 2011 35
You uncultured bastards missed my Black Adder allusion.
But you were close:
When Darling says he is as english as Queen Victoria, Blackadder replies ‘So your father’s German, you’re half German and you married a German.’
When H. G. Wells wrote about Britain’s “alien and uninspiring court”, George V famously replied: “I may be uninspiring, but I’ll be damned if I’m alien.”
But you guys kinda caught me. Windsor is a bullshit name. The Saxe-Coburg-Gotha’s a Huns, just like me.
12:51 am on July 6th, 2011 36
I think Korea got a good chance. They were only few votes behind sochi last time. I think a lot of these LBHs got something against Koreans. Maybe koreans didn’t hold door for them and it hurt their senstive feelings. Funny how the more of loser they are, the more they hate Korea… Same as how losers usually blame and hate the world….lol
1:02 am on July 6th, 2011 37
I think a trip to the Korean White House is in order…
President Lee Myung-bak, who arrived here Saturday and attended the rehearsals, will deliver a speech in English at the presentation to woo support from IOC members, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
“We have made a lot of preparations for PyeongChang and we are making efforts to fulfill the IOC’s demands sufficiently,” Lee said in an interview with foreign media Monday. “If a fair assessment is made, I anticipate that PyeongChang will be selected.”
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/07/116_90312.html
3:02 am on July 6th, 2011 38
“If a fair assessment is made, I anticipate that PyeongChang will be selected.”
Yes. ONLY if a FAIR assessment is made.
3:08 am on July 6th, 2011 39
#47,
The French bidding committee did make a strong point, which is that a winning bid for Pyeongchang would be little more than a trophy for a country and a corporation.
8:24 am on July 6th, 2011 40
Damn… I guess we’ll have to hear the angry expats rag on Korea again for the next several years, because Pyongchang just won the games.
Let the grumblings, whinings, and feet pounding on the grounds begin..
9:11 am on July 6th, 2011 41
Japanese Zen Koan:
What is the sound of one person arguing?
10:24 am on July 6th, 2011 42
Congrats Korea, but now the world will see how little you care. The pathetic turn-out at City Hall is the 2nd clue as to how little Seoul cares about the Olympics. How S. Korea chose ex-cons(Hanwha Chairman Kim Seung-youn and Samsung Chairman Lee, Kun-hee) to represent the people of S. Korea before the world is the 1st clue.
I’ve bought plenty of condoms from the local convenient store and have a room at a love motel to celebrate with multiple young Korean women.
4:44 pm on July 6th, 2011 43
Congratulations Korea!
Just pray for an abundance of snow and it’ll all be fine.
5:45 pm on July 6th, 2011 44
The first Englishmen, the Anglo-Saxons, were Germans.
6:07 pm on July 6th, 2011 45
My informal survey is starting to indicate that Koreans don’t care about winter sports and, unlike the World Cup, few people are interested in this.
6:25 pm on July 6th, 2011 46
The only people who are interested in this are the angry expats who now have another excuse to complain about Korea and how it’s not good enough to host this event for the next 7 years. Am I really wrong?
6:50 pm on July 6th, 2011 47
#61 Go a litle further back…
I’m well aware of British history. Thanks!
But back to the point at hand:
According to the IOC, the host city is responsible for, “…establishing functions and services for all aspects of the Games, such as sports planning, venues, finance, technology,accommodation, catering, media services etc., as well as operations during the Games.”[87] Due to the heavy cost involved with hosting an Olympic Games most host cities never realise a profit on their investment.[88] For example the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, cost $12.5 billion.[89] By comparison the Turino Games of 2006 cost $3.6 billion to host.[89] The organisers claimed that the cost of extending the bullet train service from Tokyo to Nagano was responsible for the huge price tag.[89] The organising committee hoped that the exposure of the Olympic Games, and the expedited access to Nagano from Tokyo, would be a boon to the local economy for years afterward. Nagano’s economy did experience a two-year post-Olympic spur, but the long term effects have not materialised as planned.[89] The possibility of heavy debt coupled with sports venues and unused infrastructure, that saddle the local community with upkeep costs and no practical post-Olympic value, is a heavy deterrent to prospective host cities.
87^ “Roles and Responsibilities during the Olympic Games” (pdf). International Olympic Committee. January 2010. pp. 4–5. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
88^ Berkes, Howard (2009-10-01). “Olympic Caveat:Host cities risk debt, scandal”. National Public Radio. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
89^ a b c d Payne, Bob (2008-08-06). “The Olympic Effect”. MSNBC.com. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
90^ Koba, Mark (2010-02-11). “The money pit that is hosting Olympic Games”. CNBC.com. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
So once again, what is the real point. The Chaebol’s & a few of the organizers might realize some profit but the average citizen (especially of the hosting city) seems to realize a net loss. The good ol’ boy effect, in full effect.
6:57 pm on July 6th, 2011 48
…of course if the populace of naive citizens, as demonstrated by the posts of Mi Hyun above, *thinks* they are proud, for whatever reason I might see the point. Bread and circuses and all that. However, this is miss placed pride. It’s like me being proud that the Houston Oilers won the Superbowl. What the hell did I have to do with it? Just because I’m wearing a “Dae Han Min Gook” or “Be the Reds” or “Fighting” shirt, what does it have to really do with me? Other than siphoning my taxes which might be better spent elsewhere to line the pockets of an elite few. And being stuck with upkeep on facilities which will rarely be used to any great degree in the aftermath. Or worse yet, they are allowed to rot in place after sucking up all that money.
So, I don’t want to be mean, especially not to you Mi Hyun. I’m actually on the side of the Korean people on this. I do not hate Korea or Koreans, I’ve lived here a long time.
So I’ll end this: congratulations to Korea on winning *I think*.
7:11 pm on July 6th, 2011 49
#66 I’m sure you super smart Koreans will turn a profit on this debacle, Tom. Can’t wait to see the finances.
/unlike your superior financial acumen, typical to your race, you lack a sarcasm detector.
7:33 pm on July 6th, 2011 50
Tom, A true right winger and idiot would be the only ones who think their country will profit from this.
The description “Idiot right winger” seems to fit you much better than me.
8:50 pm on July 6th, 2011 51
Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea has one the 2018 Winter Olympics beating out Munich, Germany and Annecy, France. I got this information from The Korean Times website.
8:52 pm on July 6th, 2011 52
M-O-O-N. That spells Pyeongchang. Ev’rbody know that.
9:00 pm on July 6th, 2011 53
I am the one who heavy handedly censored this comments thread.
Can we keep the very short race-baiting and/or personal attack comments to a minimum? Preferrably zero but at least not dominating a thread running over 50 comments…?
Mi Hyun did not seem to be posting from a proxy. It also seems it is the first time that IP has commented here.
However, since it is located in the same city in Canada as Tom, and since the comments on it added nothing worthwhile to any discussion, except allowing Tom to reply with venom as if provoked, I deleted that exchange.
9:05 pm on July 6th, 2011 54
On making money on the hosting the Olympics, I was curious about this when Atlanta got the summer games. My feeling was that individual businesses made a good bit of money, which puts money in the local economy, but I felt that the biggest reason why at least Atlanta went for it was the funding of infrastructure and other lasting projects that would be greenlighted all at once instead of being rejected or delayed and delayed if the state and local governments had tried to get them done otherwise.
10:54 pm on July 6th, 2011 55
Teadrinker wrote:
But the Korean committee did make a strong point that it would be good to give such an expensive responsibility to a region and country where more than just barely half of the people support having the games.
USinKorea, I think you are right about that aspect of the games being important. In Korea’s case, it means that the rail ( and extra highway that they’re working on get built sooner.
2:08 am on July 7th, 2011 56
Obama failed to bring the games to Chicago.
3:24 am on July 7th, 2011 57
USinKorea 53, did you renumber the comments? That makes it hard to see what’s being replied to.
3:40 am on July 7th, 2011 58
#56 George Bush doesn’t care about the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
5:07 am on July 7th, 2011 59
Then why don’t they just have the Olympics in any Western city all the time, and be done with it? Because every time some other non-western city gets the games, it’s always griping after another, and non stop cutting down of that country. Case in point, Beijing Olympics – it was human rights or pollution. South Africa World Cup, it was crime and dirt poverty in Africa. Now it’s Korea – nothing to see or eat other than dog meat. It’s always the Westerners who complain about the venue and who must cut down the chosen city/country.
Do you see Asians doing this? Do you see Koreans making fun of/complaining about it if some Western city with less than ideal perfect conditions gets chosen to host something big? Why is it always the white guys who think they are so perfect and so racist? Arrogant attitude like that is the reason why a lot of people wouldn’t mind a humbling or two to knock them down a couple of pegs. Disgusting.
5:12 am on July 7th, 2011 60
Tom, what should South Korea do about North Korea?
6:00 am on July 7th, 2011 61
North Korea is going to open Mt. Geumgang up for the tourists visiting Pyeongchang and make a killing.
6:03 am on July 7th, 2011 62
Hopefully it won’t be a shot in the back down on the beach this time though…
6:31 am on July 7th, 2011 63
Tom, quite a few posts are anti-olympics not anti-Korean. You need to work on your reading comprehension skills or the rest of your future will be dim. I know your western dream must consist of more than working at Happy Wok.
I’m guessing if one posted, “Korean is a cool place,” you’d find a way to take that as negative.
11:22 am on July 8th, 2011 64
Someone keep posting as ‘John’ so I will go with ‘John in CA’.
#61
NK already made a killing out of the tourists visiting Mt. Geumgang, literally & figuratively.
7:14 pm on July 8th, 2011 65
John in CA: If only Tom had your reading comprehension skills…the world would be a much better place.