The Incheon Asian Games is now only 8 days away, and today, the first wave of North Korea’s national athletes are scheduled to enter Korea via plane. Experts predicted that North Korea’s participation in this year’s Asian Games will spark positive effects for North and South Korean relations. However, the South Korean government is on the lookout for any unexpected disasters that might occur during the tournament.
There has been a considerable amount of dispute regarding whether Korea should allow the entrance of North Korean athletes into their territory. Yonhap News explained that even now many conservative political organizations and NGOs have become extremely sensitive about the situation. What the South Korean administration fears most at this moment is these groups demonstrating wherever the 92 North Korean sportsmen go and provoke them, causing political relations with DPRK to become even worse.
A government insider went far as to say in a statement that the future of the relations with DPRK as well as the Incheon Asian Games depend on protection and safety of the North Korean national team. The administration announced that it will be providing top class security for the North Korean nationals at their hotel, and keep members of conservative organizations and NGOs a certain distance away.
There is still the possibility that such groups may hold demonstrations and hold extreme ceremonies such as burning the North Korean flag or a portrait of Kim Jong-Uun, the current ruler of North Korea. In 2003, during the Daegu Universiad tournaments, a group of demonstrators actually were found carrying a sign that read “Down with Kim Jong-il”, and got into a fist fight with North Korean news reporters. In order to prevent such acts of burning crucial North Korean symbols, the South Korean government decided to remove all the flags of all participating nations in all the stadiums that will be used for the Asian Games, despite the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s regulation that flags of competing countries must be shown at all sites.
However, it is not only South Koreans getting out of control that the government must be concerned about. In the past, North Korea has used major sports events taking place in South Korea as opportunities to cause havoc. Not long before the 1988 Seoul Olympics, a North Korean terrorist caused a Korean Air plane to explode in the air, and the person responsible escaped via parachute.
Another instance in 2002 during the Korea-Japan World Cup, North Korean patrol boats sailed past the NLL (Northern Limit Line) into South Korean seas despite warnings from Korean naval patrol boats. A fire fight took place that resulted in the sinking of a South Korean boat, one North Korean vessel, and the deaths of 6 South Korean sailors and around 36 North Koreans.
The government will constantly be on the watch for any kind of North-South and even South-South conflicts that may take place during the Asian Games.
