Italo as a Form of Protest

Check out this obscure track that protests the use of tear gas in preparation for the 1988 Olympics.




South Korea Is Walking a Fine Olympic Line
By CLYDE HABERMAN
Published: Monday, September 21, 1987

FOR South Korean Olympic officials, a nightmare vision of what could go wrong at the 1988 Seoul Olympics became a dark reality last June at the height of street protests that swept across the country.

As demonstrators battled riot policemen in the heart of two southern cities, Pusan and Masan, billows of tear gas rolled across nearby sports stadiums where international soccer matches were under way. The gas became too much for the players. They coughed and gagged as they left the field, pulling jerseys over their heads to protect themselves against the noxious fumes.

The news photos of those scenes were graphic and widely distributed.

And as South Korea's civil unrest widened, sports officials in other countries suddenly began to wonder about the prospects for trouble-free Summer Games next year.

Robert H. Helmick, president of the United States Olympic Committee, happened to be visiting Seoul at the time, and said he was confident about 1988. Still, he pointedly added that he was not about to send his athletes to any place where ''tear gas is going off outside of stadiums.''

Now, three months later, South Korean sports officials insist that all their worries are behind them. Troubles? they ask. What troubles? ''Yesterday's turmoil cannot be the same one year later,'' said Park Seh Jik, a former army general who is president of the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee. ''It may concern some people, but I can assure you that the Seoul Olympics will be safe and successful because all the complaints of the Korean people about democratization are gone.''

''As far as political matters go,'' Mr. Park said, ''there are no complaints - almost nothing to protest.''

While more than a few of his countrymen might debate him on that point, there is little doubt about South Korea's Olympic self-assurance as it begins its final countdown to the opening ceremony on Sept. 17, 1988.

On Thursday, exactly one year before the big day, the International Olympic Committee sent out formal invitations asking its 167 member countries to come to Seoul. These Games will be different, South Korean officials say. This time, unlike Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984, there will be no major boycott, they say.

If you look closely, though, you can see their fingers crossed.

They still cannot answer conclusively the questions that have haunted them since they were awarded the Games six years ago: What are the intentions of North Korea, this country's implacable enemy? Will the North declare a boycott? And if so, will its Communist allies stay home as well?

Through years of diplomatic tug-of-war, no significant progress has been made to resolve North Korea's demand to be co-host for the Games and South Korea's refusal to even consider the idea. The most the South will accept is an I.O.C. suggestion to have a few sports events - the latest number is five - held north of the Korean demilitarized zone.

The North has insisted on more. Last week, it added a new twist, proposing that the two Koreas negotiate directly and not use the international body as a mediator, as they have thus far. It is an offer that the South is expected to refuse in a few days.

Wearily, South Korean officials dismiss the talks as a charade. They insist that North Korea is not really interested in the Games and that its leaders in Pyongyang intend only to impede Seoul's preparations. The reason they go through the exercise themselves, they add, is that they cannot afford to appear as obstructionists.

''We have no obligation to share any events with North Korea,'' said Oh Jee Chul, a senior Sports Ministry official. ''The Olympics are awarded to a city, to Seoul, not to a country. They have no right to demand any events, any more than Japan or any other country does.''

''We have to accept that the Korean peninsula is divided into two countries,'' Mr. Oh said. ''Who can ignore that fact?''

South Korea this week set a mid-January deadline for the North to accept the I.O.C. offer. More and more, officials here believe that Pyongyang will stand virtually alone if it declares a boycott. China, one of the North's principal allies, seems almost certain to come to Seoul. Soviet-bloc countries are expected, too, although it is too early to tell. They are all tired of boycotts, Mr. Oh argued, because ''their promising young athletes cannot be sacrificed anymore.''

The rest of the article can be found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/21/sports/south-korea-is-walking-a-fine-olympic-line.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/O/Olympic%20Games