Ferry Tragedy Touches 2018 Winter Olympics

As Yu-Na Kim and South Korea don yellow ribbons over the ferry disaster, so does the IOC during an inspection for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Ribbons were on the collars of the IOC Coordination Commission members this week during their four-day visit led by IOC member Gunilla Lindberg. She opened the session with a minute of silence for the victims of the ship sinking.

A source in the PyeongChang Organizing Committee said it was the co-comm’s idea to wear the yellow ribbons, and that everyone was "deeply grateful."

Lindberg also expressed IOC sympathy at the closing press conference May 1.

"The [Sewol] ferry [accident] is an internationally big tragedy that we’ve all followed. We say our condolences, especially because there were so many young people [on the ferry]."

More than 200 people died – the vast majority of them high school students en route to a field trip –on April 15. With the hopes of survival of 89 missing people fading, the nation is overwhelmed with depression, including the nation’s darling Olympic champion figure skater, Yu-na Kim. The Coordination Commission’s heartfelt gesture this week was not unnoticed in Korea.

Aside from the ferry disaster, Lindberg expressed happiness with "progress that POCOG continued to make in terms of accommodation and construction projects".

Yet it was not blind optimism that ruled the first coordination commission since the Sochi Olympics. With rock solid support from the Russian government, those Games raised the bar on what government support can mean for an Olympics.

POCOG chair Jin-sun Kim stressed that in his remarks at the press conference calling the 2018 Winter Games the "nation‘s step to complete its Olympic legacy."

"I hope the nation would continue to support PyeongChang with the same amount of enthusiasm as we succeeded in winning the bid at the third challenge."

Between the lines was a plea for corporations to be more proactive in sponsorship. Hosting this mega event is turning out to be challenging, although it was not unexpected. So far the organizing committee has yet to sign its first national sponsorship.

Several factors -- the Sewol ferry disaster included for sure -- have put PyeongChang 2018 off the top priorities of the national agenda. The country’s politicians, bureaucrats, and the captain of the nation, President Park Geun-hye, are blamed daily for their inability to deal effectively with the crisis. Plus, this politically vibrant country - to put it diplomatically – has elections on June 4th.

Yet this does not mean that PyeongChang is off the map of Koreans. More than 90 percent of nationals gave strong support for the small country town’s bid for the Winter Games. To many Koreans, PyeongChang 2018 is a mega event to put their nation solidly on the map as a so-called "advanced nation." The country has aspired to that designation since it rose from the ashes of the Korean War at a breakneck speed.

For a country not even as big as Texas, the success of PyeongChang 2018 is seen as a great finish line to enter the "advanced nation" list.

Written and reported for Around the Rings in South Korea by Su-jin Chun, Olympic Reporter, JoongAng Ilbo

Homepage photo: Getty Images