Koreans Not Interested In Olympics

A nationwide survey conducted by Gallup Korea found that less than half of the citizens of South Korea are at all interested in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which will open next Feb. 9 in the city of PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, about 180 kilometers east of the capital city of Seoul.

Lee Jin-man/AP – Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Plaza
Construction on the venue to host the opening and closing ceremonies at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018.

The survey covered about 1,000 people and is said to have a margin of error of plus/minus 3.1 percent and a 95 percent level of confidence, according to the Yonhap news service.

Among the respondents, 48 percent said they were interested in the Winter Olympics and 49 percent said they were not interested.

Within the latter group, 19 percent actually said they had “zero interest” in the Games. Gallup’s analysis said that South Koreans have lost interest in international sports competitions in general ever since the 1990s, though that feeling could be reversed if local Olympic officials carried out more aggressive promotional activities, citing a 2014 poll that found 64 percent of South Koreans were interested in the Sochi Winter Games about a week before the competition began.

Broken down into specifics, the most popular event among South Koreans is figure skating, with 34 percent showing interest, followed by short track events and speed skating.

This month, a “dry run” for the 2018 games is going on in PyeongChang, with international competitions in various events taking place.

The competitions give local organizers and volunteers a chance to improve operations and smooth out management problems ahead of the Olympics itself. “These test events are good opportunities to check things out and give us an idea of what to expect for the games,” U.S. Skiing Freestyle Program Director Todd Schirman told AP.