Oh says he's pursuing 2036 Olympic Games 'quietly'

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon delivers a congratulatory speech at the Seoul Olympic Legacy Forum at Olympic Parktel in southern Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Seoul’s strategy for bidding to host the Olympics in 2036 will be low-key, Mayor Oh Se-hoon said in an interview on Wednesday.

Oh made clear his desire for Seoul to host the Summer Olympics in 2036 in an interview with local broadcaster SBS aired Wednesday afternoon.

"Seoul is now in the spotlight as a very attractive city thanks to K-pop and K-drama,” Oh said.

“[Hosting the Olympics] will be a good opportunity for Korea, which has joined the ranks of advanced nations, to be presented to the world and roar on the world stage,” Oh added.

Oh had declared he would “host another Seoul Olympics” by renovating existing sports facilities during the Seoul Olympic Legacy Forum held on Tuesday.

The strategy for the bid, however, will be subtle, he said in Wednesday’s interview.

“Several officials from the International Olympic Committee [IOC] gave sincere advice,” Oh said. “Competing fiercely at the national level will not help hosting [the Olympics] because [the host city] is not decided by a vote as in the past.”

Under the IOC’s new process of choosing venues, the approximately 100 IOC members no longer vote. The choice is made by a Future Host Commission, where around 10 member countries talk with candidate cities on a regular basis. The new methodology was aimed at cutting unnecessary costs, fending off excessive lobbying and raising transparency in the decision-making.

“While I’ll make clear my willingness to host the Games, it would be a minus for the nation to come forward and promote the idea aggressively,” Oh said. “The officials said it was important to go quietly to a low-key strategy, and I communicated with the central government on that point.”

Concerns were raised over whether an Olympic bid could get in the way of Korea's efforts to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan.

The 2030 Busan Expo is a national goal, and major corporations are pitching in. The host of the World Expo is decided by a vote of 170 BIE member countries, making lobbying important.

On Oct. 6, Seoul and Busan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Thursday at Seoul City Hall pledging to cooperate on Busan’s expo bid.

“The World Expo and the Olympics have completely different ways of choosing the venue,” Cho You-jang, director general of the 2030 Busan World Expo Promotion Headquarters, told the Korea JoongAng Daily on Thursday.

“The government remains unchanged in its position that it will focus all its efforts on the World Expo bid as for now, which requires inter-governmental negotiations,” Cho said.

"The decision for the Busan Expo will be made around this time next year, and until then, we will go quietly but firmly,” Oh said.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]