Finding the modern

National identity of Korea

in the 1988 Seoul Olympics:

focusing on Chamsil Main

Stadium, Olympic Park and

the bidding history

CCHU 9003 Final Project

BANG, Ki Won

Finding the modern

National identity of Korea

in the 1988 Seoul Olympics:

focusing on Chamsil Main

Stadium, Olympic Park and

the bidding history

CCHU 9003 Final Project

BANG, Ki Won 2010591289

Finding the modern

National identity of Korea

in the 1988 Seoul Olympics:

focusing on Chamsil Main

Stadium, Olympic Park and

the bidding history

CCHU 9003 Final Project

2010591289

OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT

For a country, hosting any international sports competitions or exhibition means

“the starting momentum of a tremendous change”. Olympics, World Cup, and Expo are

exemplary in that they not only stimulate the hosting countries and cities with economic

effects such as the increase of tourism revenue and domestic consumption, but effectively

raise the brand value of hosting countries and cities by promoting their name overseas. The

role of catalyst to unite the people as one cannot be ignored as well, since the states can

utilize the successful bid for those international events to inculcate their people with the

pride in accomplishing an historical task of the whole nation.

Since the New Millennium, Korea held and will hold 2002 World Cup, 2002 and

2014 Asian Games, 2010 Formula One, 2011 World Athletics Championship, 2012 World

Exposition, and currently competes with Germany and France for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

However it was the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul that was the starting point to rethink

about the brand value of nation through these fesfivals, and the first event to change the

image of Korea positively during its developing period before Korea vividly acted in the

international organization like OECD and G20. In this project I would like to introduce the

historical scenes of Korea’s bidding process for the 1988 Olympics until 1981 in Baden-

Baden at first, reveal the original characteristics of Korean aesthetic and their historical

values poured in the two main Olympic architectures – Seoul Olympic Stadium in Chamsil

and Olympic Park.

THUNDERBIRD OF BADEN-BADEN

espite the “Miracle of Han River”, Republic of Korea in 1970s under

President Park Chung Hee’s throne began to be chaotic. Citizens were

afraid of losing their accomplishments through the first Oil Shock, and

South Korea suffered from a number of anti-dictatorship demonstrations and tear gases

against them. To reverse the atmosphere, in 1976 the government initiated the plan of

building a new sports complex in Seoul for large sports events. It presented in 1979

Administration White Paper the expanded national stadium plan – creating eleven stadiums

in major provinces followed by more than one gymnasium per county to hold the Asian

Games in 1980s and the Olympics in 1990s – (“Large Sports Complex to Build”, 1979) and at

last authorised the bid for of Seoul 1988 Olympics on 21 September 1979.

Seoul confirmed it in the news conference on 8 October, and it seemed clear that the

government would drive the efforts strongly till the 84th IOC Congress in 1981, in parallel

with the new stadium plan. However, assassination of President Park on 26 October 1979,

only eighteen days after the press conference, paralyzed the whole country. After Park’s

death, citizens were full of hope for a democratic government. However, sudden coup d’état

on 12 December 1979 by General Chun Doo Hwan and his new militants destroyed that hope.

Next year in Gwangju, Chun slaughtered hundreds of those who joined the anti-military

demonstration, and as a result his military government was condemned as illegitimate one

which deprives people’s lives by force.

Elected as the new president through the manipulated “gymnasium elections”, Chun

again faced difficulties restoring the forgotten Olympic bid. In November 1980 Seoul

announced the opposition notice due to a tremendous fiscal crunch. Government officials

D

including Prime Minister Nam Duck Woo feared bankruptcy by hosting the Olympics while

economic growth rate broke down by -4 percent due to the Second Oil Shock in 1979 and

1980. Even in April 1981 Seoul disregarded IOC Executive Committee’s request to make a

report on the bidding progress (“The Bid Withdrawal Is Gossip, 1988). Because IOC

preferred the competition between plural cities to Nagoya’s uncontested selection, Seoul

managed to maintain its status of candidate city, but no one doubted Seoul’s devastating

surrender.

The representatives of Korea’s bidding committee arrived at Baden-Baden on 20

September 1981. They commenced the ten-day “Thunderbird Operation” to turn over the

unfavourable air till the judgment day 30 September. Park Chong Kyu, the ex-President of

Korea Sports Council was included secretly. Through the good offices of Mario Vásquez Raña,

President of the Association of National Olympic Committees, he met Horst Dassler, the

chief executive of Adidas who had a powerful influence on important figures of the world

sports. Dassler promised there to persuade more than a half of the IOC members to cast

votes to Seoul in exchange with the right to select the Olympic sponsors, and the tide

changed to the advantage of Seoul. Also predominant in IOC was the opinion that it is not

reasonable for Japan to host another Olympics only 24 years after the 1964 Tokyo (“Seven-

Year Labor Pains of Chamsil”, 1988).

The bidding committee led by Cho Sang Ho, Chairman of Korea Olympic Committee

focused on attracting hearts of the IOC members. Cho arranged Miss Koreas and the flight

attendants of Korean Air1 as guides in Seoul’s exhibition booth, and delivered flower baskets

to each member’s room under the name of KOC Chairman. The committee asked the

government to treat the sick Malaysian IOC member as a national guest to bring him to

Baden-Baden in comfort, and offered flight tickets to Seoul for any members interested in

1 Cho Sang Ho was also the owner of Hanjin Group, mother company of Korean Air.

the modern progress of South Korea (Min, 2010).

In contrast with the past the atmosphere in the conference venue turned positively

even enough to calculate that Seoul can beat Japan by (00) votes. It was 15:45 in Baden-

Baden.

“Seúl 52, …” 11:45 p.m.

September 30, 1981 in Korean

Standard Time, Juan Antonio

Samaranch, the president of IOC

announced the number of votes for

Seoul. Everyone did not hear the

number for Nagoya, but the

delegates from Korea all stamped

out instinctively with a heart-

throbbing impression. In the moment of victory, Japanese reporters sitting on the

opposite side get out of the conference room to correct the impatient title “Nagoya won”

sent to the headquarters in Tokyo. On the other hand, every Korean there was suddenly

exposed to international media.

- Baden-Baden in the Moment of Victory, Donga Ilbo on October 1, 1981

Chamsil Sports Complex:

the sacred place opening new

era of modern Korea

hough Seoul won the Olympics bid with glory of victory through a

dramatic reverse, there was still no grand sports facilities enough to

accommodate thousands of people that join the games. Moskow Luzhniki

Stadium and L.A. Memorial Coliseum, the main stadiums for 1980 and 1094 Olympics can

accommodate about 85000 and 93000 people each, at the same time two of the largest

stadiums in Seoul were only Hyochang Football Stadium (left picture below) and

Dongdaemun Stadium with 25,000 and 23,500 seats each (Dongdaemun Stadium once had

the official name of Seoul Stadium till the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul).2 While the Soviet

Union and the United States made the Olympics an ideological stage to show the unity of and

their influence on Democratic and Communistic wings, Korea was just an unknown country

to the world, the land of the morning calm.

2 Hyochang Stadium is now used as field for Korean Division 3 Football League, but Dongdaemun

Stadium was destructed in 2007 to change the area to new park. In 2000s before the destruction the

Stadium was used as public parking lot

T

Seoul Metropolitan Government, in Master Plan: The National Sports Complex3

(Kim, 1984), determined to make the Olympics in Seoul the festival of international harmony

and peace between East and West and the important model for further future as the first

Games held in a developing country. The three directions were “unified games without

political ideology, Korean games that shows the civilized nation of Korea for 5,000 years, and

productive games that maximize the effect of the fifth Five-Year Economic Development

Plan from 1982 to 1988. It became important for the Organizing Committee to give an

original meaning to the new main stadium to lively show the realization of Olympic goals to

foreigners.

Though now not functioning as sports facility, the 80,000-seat Chamsil Olympic

Main Stadium stands as the largest stadium in Korea.4 It was very big but looks very gentle

in its external shape of roof. Designed by Kim Swoo Keun, the most prominent architect ever

in Korea, its framework is similar to oval Colosseum in ancient Roman Empire, and the

spherical roof above the field have the beauty of streamline also shown in sleeves of the

traditional clothes and Korean ceramics. This smooth curve embraces the passionate

movement of the young players and hot shouting from the audience like mom’s breast (Chon,

2003). In spite of its tremendous size the stadium does not overwhelm the audience, and its

curved external shape presents the original image of Korean culture bringing up the image of

3 At that time “the National Sports Complex” was the proposed name for Seoul Olympic Park, but the

Master Plan for it was quoted in advance here to explain the specialties of Seoul Olympics announced

by the metropolitan government.

4 The stadium had 100,000 seats when it was opened, but after the Olympics it was remodeled.

a jester’s dazzling dance (Korea Cultural Informaion Service, n.d. a).

The opening ceremony on September 16, 1988

with the appearance of “the Hoop Kid” playing on the

empty green field in Chamsil Main Stadium is a

beautiful national memory for the old Korean people.

Born on September 30, 1981, he passed the world the

image of pure and peaceful nation in the harmonious

Olympic event in which any countries regardless of

ideology joined, and the stadium showcased the

largest scale of Korean beauty on its blue roof as that

of the traditional tile-roofed house.

After the World Cup Stadium opened with a

square roof, opposite to circle-like one of Chamsil Stadium,

no national and international sports events occurred in

Chamsil after 2002. Instead, yelling from Baseball

Stadium, Chamsil Olympic Gymnasium and Seoul Student

Gymnasium for profession baseball and basketball

matches substitutes that for the Olympics 23 years ago.

Parallel to the ancient Roman colosseum that now represents Rome through its arch style

architecture, Seoul Olympic Stadium also became the symbol of Seoul, also being the grand

edifice built by Korean architecture that contains the essence of the Korean aesthetic.

Olympic Park: Coexistence of

modern citizens’ passion and

the old civilization

n late 20th century, the number of cement buildings highly increased – now

we may need to include that of transparent glass skyscrapers thanks to the

brand-new architectural technologies! – in Seoul as typical showcase of

economic development plans. Nonetheless, Olympic Park in southern and World Cup

Memorial Park in northern part of Seoul have taken a firm stand across the Han River as

lungs of building forest, with green grass, splendid fountains and frolicking children.

Mongchon Ramparts, accounting for a quarter of the whole park, constructed by

ancient ancestors of Paekje Kingdom based on current Seoul area give an originality to Seoul

Olympic Park compared to those in other countries. Each of 2860m walk and 1580m

crossing road surrounds and traverses the ramparts, and a moat covering the ramparts is

revived to an artificial lake decorated with several bridges and an underwater fountain.

When looking down the park, we find out that five indoor gymnasiums encircle the

I

Ramparts, Square of 1988 and Lake downwards, and this arrangement of facilities shows

that the restored ramparts are the core factor for “the civic park that expresses sports and

history at the same time.” (Kim, 1984) The ramparts motivated Korean citizens to have

interest in the early history of Paekje Kingdom before it settled in southern Korean Peninsula,

and simultaneously enlightened them the importance of old historical heritage forgotten in

the modern development drive. From its interior, various artifacts such as the dugout site

and preservation holes were excavated, which served as pivotal objects in investigating the

Paekje Kingdom in Seoul.

Getting out of Mongchon Ramparts Station on Seoul Metro Line 8, you will face a

forty-five-meter World Peace Gate, standing

as front gate of the park. Designed by Kim

Jung Up, one of the two most prominent

architects in the 20C Korea other than Kim

Swoo Guen, the World Peace Gate went

through many ups and downs. Initially

planned as 24m monument, it increased to

90m in height due to the opposition that

24m is too low to get any symbolic meanings,

and again became finalized as 45m one. The

streamlined and wing shape of the gate as

that of ceramics displays Korean traditional style of architecture in a universal symbol for

Olympics. On the vast roof four imaginative animals, guardians of four directions in East

Asia – blue dragon, red phoenix, white tiger, and black turtle – are pained in Korean

multicolored Dancheong5 style, and thirty colonnades which embody Korean mask Tal are

5 Multicolored painting on the pillars, wall and roof of traditional architectures.

placed left and right each (Korea Cultural Informaion Service, n.d. b).

In the 28,000㎡ Square of Peace in front of World Peace Gate Suryeopdo, hunting

scene in Koguryo tomb mural is engraved on the granite floor. The ascendant image in the

gate’s pillars and roof towering against the sky, and the carved mural deployed in the wide

square demonstrate the outstanding spirit of Koguryo ancestors who once dominated the

northeast China. However, it is interesting and ironic that Koguryo expelled Paekje from

the center of Korean Peninsula to south by taking Seoul in 475 C.E., but the embodiment

that empire is now placed as the large gateway toward the trace of its old enemy.

Seoul Olympic Park not only provides break area for the citizens in the crowded

metropolis, but also turns to the cultural playground with colorful things to see and to play.

Fantastic musicians such as Elton John, Eagles, Sting, and Eric Clapton usually meet Korean

fans in either of Gymnastics,

Fencing or Weighting Gymnasium

of Olympic Park. Meanwhile, last

year the square in front of World

Peace Gate became “Fan Park”

during 2010 World Cup, an outlet

for passion where the young sing

and shout to cheer up their national players in a tremendous screen. While Korean people

twenty years ago heated the gymnasiums in the park yearning for their nation’s gold medals,

their sons and daughters fill the same park with similar but different excitement responding

to wonderful performance of musicians, and wishing the national team strive for the higher

round in the world’s best competition.

Conclusion

efore the creation of the main stadium and the Olympic Park, the

population and economy of Seoul were concentrated on the north side of

Han River. For this reason, the opinion to develop the southern area of

Seoul by filling up the low land easy to flood, and to centralize Chamsil in terms of cultural

and commercial aspects interlinked with the Olympics gathered more momentum. The

prediction of the metropolitan government for the improved road network and more energy

to the southern Seoul area thanks to the Olympics got correct, and there still remain a lot of

synergy effects by the east access for the residents around to various facilities including new

department stores. Behind this scene of artificial development by modern people, the

Olympic Park where the ancient history again flows finalized the roadmap of Seoul in which

the old civilization and modern urbanization interchange by only the subway line.

Though stopped by political chaos after rush of modernization, Korea delivered its

elegance to the world through the Olympic construction, and with this background took the

first step to the Four Asian Tigers, renovating the conventional idea of “dangerous divided

country” Nobody believed at first that a poor country managing to meet end with dolls and

pillows would succeed to link the ideologically cracked world. Seoul Olympics was really

“Korean” event that made use of traditional design and refreshed the importance of early

history through revision of the city, and a huge momentum in the contemporary history that

stand the whole nation up from ruin.

B

REFERENCES

1. Large sports complex to build in eleven main provinces and cities [11개 시도에 대규

모 종합경기장]. (1979, May 17). Kyunghyang Shinmun, p.1.

2. Inside account of Korean sports vol. 21: The bid withdrawal is gossip [한국스포츠 이

면사 21: 한국 유치철회 “소문만”]. (1988, February 19). Kyunghyang Shinmun, p.9.

3. Baden-Baden in the Moment of Victory. (1981, October 1). Donga Ilbo.

4. Min, B. W. (2010, October 12). Seoul’s bid for 1988 Olympics vol.2 [88올림픽 서울

유치 2]. Retrieved from http://navercast.naver.com/contents.nhn?contents_id=38

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계의 합창이]. (1988, September 19). Maeil Business Newspaper, p.18-19

6. Chon, I. (2003). Men’s Birth [남자의 탄생]. Paju, Republic of Korea: Prunsoop.

7. Korea Cultural Information Service. (n.d.). Seoul Olympic Main Stadium [서울올림

픽 주경기장]. Retrieved from http://www.culture.go.kr/art/knowledge/directory

View.jsp?ar_vvm_cd_seq=838

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9. Kim, A. (1984). Master plan: The National Sports Complex [국립경기장 기본 계획

및 설계]. Seoul: Seoul Metropolitan Government.

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2. http://blog.ohmynews.com/booking/171144

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