How North Jeolla Province beat Seoul to become Olympic host candidate

Plans for balanced regional growth, solidarity with neighboring cities attributed to selection

By Ko Dong-hwan

When Seoul and North Jeolla Province threw their bids in to become Korea's candidate for the 2036 Summer Olympics, not many predicted the province would be picked.

Seoul, as the capital of or the country, has global recognition, enough infrastructure for such a mega sports event and the experience of hosting the Games before, back in 1988.

However, in Friday's vote, North Jeolla beat Seoul 49-11.

To overcome any disadvantages, the provincial government came up with a strategy of an "alliance" between cities in non-capital areas — a way to realize balanced regional growth and utilize already exiting sports facilities across different regions.

When North Jeolla Governor Kim Kwan-young gave his presentation to the evaluation committee of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC), Friday, his key concept was “national balanced growth” and “alliance among regional cities.” He referred to North Jeolla’s Olympic bid as a “national project for regional development,” not limiting the event’s economic benefits to his province.

Kim said his province will share Olympic events with neighboring metropolitan cities and counties including Daegu (athletics), Gwangju (archery and swimming), and North Chungcheong provincial county of Hongseong (tennis). He added North Jeolla’s model would align with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) push for cost efficiency and ensure a more balanced regional development in Korea.

“Today, 88.5 percent of all sporting events in Korea are taking place outside the country’s capital region,” Kim said during his presentation. “Australia has had three Summer Games in three different cities, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. That was done to ensure balanced growth of that country.”

During his presentation, South Jeolla Governor Kim Yung-rok, Daegu Metropolitan City Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, South Chungcheong Province Governor Kim Tae-heum and Gwangju Metropolitan City Mayor Kang Ki-jung showed their support for North Jeolla via video messages.

Kim Kwan-young’s argument for balanced growth comes as the country’s non-capital regions have been suffering from exiting local populations – mostly among young age groups and the active workforce – as businesses are concentrating within the capital region. As of January, residents of Seoul and its surrounding metropolitan areas of Incheon and Gyeonggi Province stood at 26.04 million, accounting for 50.86 percent of the country’s entire population.

Contrary to North Jeolla, Seoul highlighted the city’s robust sport infrastructure and experience from hosting the 1988 Summer Olympics, as well as high quality transportation and accommodation facilities. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon also said in his presentation that more than 85 percent of Seoul residents supported the city's bid. However, these factors apparently did not impress the KSOC members at the vote.

After the selection, the North Jeolla governor said, "Now North Jeolla will strengthen solidarity with neighboring cities to win the international competition. We'll do our best for North Jeolla to become the host for the 2036 Summer Olympic Games."

The provincial government will initially submit its plan to host the international event to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

After submitting a letter of intent for the Olympic hosting to the IOC, the province will undergo a review by the IOC's Future Host Commission, and decide on which city in the province will be the final candidate. Then the city will vie with other candidate cities across the world in a vote at an IOC general assembly. The IOC said the city selection for the 2036 Games is likely to be made after 2025.