Winter Games evacuation plans

British Olympic Association preparing Winter Games evacuation plans in case of North Korea attack

 

Olympic mascots Soohorang (left) and Bandabi (right) at Gyeongpo beach in Pyeonchang Credit: Jeon Heon-Kyun /EPA 

• Ben Rumsby

25 October 2017 • 9:02pm

 

Plans are being drawn up to evacuate British athletes from the Winter Olympics in the event of an attack on the Games by North Korea, the chief executive of British Olympic Association revealed on Wednesday.
Bill Sweeney confirmed the BOA was preparing for the worst-case scenario amid rising tensions between US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over the latter’s growing nuclear arsenal and weapons tests.

Sweeney was confident the BOA would not have to implement its emergency plan during what will be the first Olympics held in South Korea since the 1988 Summer Games.

But he admitted evacuation plans would be drawn up as a precaution.
“We are working on all possible contingency plans,” he said. “The only one you have in the situation of the extreme event you mentioned is evacuation.
“We will go there with a clearly laid out evacuation plan if it is necessary. I don’t think it will be necessary. The health and welfare of the delegation is our number-one priority.”

 

Tensions have been mounting between North Korea and USA with only four months to go until the Winter Games begin  Credit: Wong Maye-E /AP

France’s sports minister last month warned its team for Pyeongchang 2018 would “stay at home" if their security could not be guaranteed at a ski resort town only 50 miles south of the heavily-armed North Korean border.

Sweeney said: “The South Koreans have lived with this for 60 years and tensions have gone up and down. There seems a higher level this time obviously.”
He added: “Clearly, there is an issue around the escalation of tensions between North and South Korea and the Americans.
“We talk to the Foreign Office and the embassy in South Korea on a weekly basis. We had conversations with them last week.”
The threat has not deterred families from cheering on the British team at the February 9-25 Games, according to British chef de mission Mike Hay.

 

On Tuesday the Olympic torch was lit at the site of Ancient Olympia to begin its journey to Pyeongchang, South Korea   Credit: AP 

He said: “That security question has come up and I think we have explained the situation and they are happy to register their interest in going.”
The BOA had similar evacuation plans in place for last year’s Olympics given the concerns about violence in Rio.
“I lost a lot more sleep going to Rio than Pyeongchang,” Sweeney said.
“The security threat in Rio was a lot more personal, a lot more unpredictable. We were prepared against any opportunity around mugging and crime and the violent nature of Rio.
“They are things that are difficult to manage. South Korea as a country is really safe and secure, probably one of the safest you can go into.”

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