Five Rings over Korea: The Secret Negotiations Behind the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul

A high-rankiing member of the International Olympic Committee offers a behind-the-scenes account of the secret diplomatic negotiations that made it possible for Seoul to host the Olympics in 1988, providing an overview of the Games' history

In 1981, when Seoul was chosen as the host of 1988 Olympics, beating out Nagoya, Japan, the decision was widely criticized as risky or foolhardy given the instability of South Korea's military regime and tensions with North Korea. Cuba and North Korea boycotted the games, but thanks to pressure from the Soviet Union and China, with the U.S. acting as a power broker, other possible boycotts were prevented and North Korea agreed not to disrupt the Seoul Olympics. Pound, a member of the International Olympic Committee, details the behind-the-scenes maneuvers of Reagan, Gorbachev, Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze and others. And he re-creates the 1985-87 negotiations between North and South Korea held in Switzerland, in which the North insisted on cohosting the games. This is an instructive case study in international consensus-building and the politics of sports. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The story of the tortuous negotiations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the two Koreas over the staging of the 1988 summer Olympics in Seoul takes the reader into the heart of Cold War politics in all its paranoid splendor. At the center of this delicate imbroglio stood the former Spanish ambassador to Moscow, IOC chairman Juan Antonio Samaranch, who danced his way through negotiations of mind-boggling complexity. Pretty soon, in fact, the reader gets bogged down in the interminable petty wrangling that finally brought the Seoul games to fruition, without, however, being much intrigued or diverted on the way. Park Chong Kyu, head of the Korean Olympic Committee, Ashwini Kumar, an Indian IOC negotiator, Kim Yu Sun, the North Korean member of the IOC, Samaranch, et al., hardly emerge as personalities at all, which renders their various interactions somewhat dull. No doubt the intrigues themselves would have made an interesting article--the attempt to ideologize and manipulate the Olympic ideal is a juicy enough topic. It is indeed curious to note that the IOC at one point considered granting North Korea the staging of the table tennis tournament, a sport in which it was strong, and the canoeing event, simply because a river runs between the two Koreas. But a 340-page book packed with endless footnotes and acronyms (``DPRK NOC refuses IOC request for DPRK and ROK to march together in Opening and Closing Ceremonies'') simply collapses under its own weight. It is also worth asking whether Pound, who is still a member of the IOC, is sufficiently unhindered to tell the story as it should be told. This is a shame, for there is undoubtedly an interesting backstage story here--but one that needs a light, acerbic touch to bring it to life. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Pound, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), presents a fascinating, in-depth look at the negotiations that brought the summer games to South Korea in 1988. Pound clearly shows how, but for deft handling of the situation by IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, the awarding of the Olympics to Seoul could have been a recipe for more chaos and hard feelings coming as it did on the heels of the U.S-led boycott of the Moscow Games in 1980 and Moscow's retaliatory boycott in 1984. Even though we know the ending, this story is nevertheless riveting in its recounting, particularly in light of the current events on the Korean Peninsula. Written in a precise manner that makes this sometimes complex story easy to follow, the book is further enhanced by Pound's breakdown of Olympic political problems since 1936. Chockfull of sometimes annoying (but always informative) bottom-of-the-page footnotes, this book is a worthy addition to most public library shelves.
David M. Turkalo, Social Law Lib., Boston
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.