Pyongyang demanded six full sports and co-hosting status for 1988 Seoul Games

By Constance Bell · August 13, 2026

Negotiators fought to secure passage for 25,000 officials and journalists as Pyongyang demanded a separate organizing committee and control over six full sports.

On June 10, 1986, in Lausanne, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) attempted to bridge a gap that was as much about sovereignty as it was about sport. A memorandum from the Wilson Center Digital Archive records a two-day meeting between the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The goal was simple in phrasing but immense in scale: to ensure "maximum NOC participation" at the 1988 Games in Seoul.

Table Tennis and Archery

The IOC President opened the proceedings with a proposal designed to coax Pyongyang into the fold. The offer was a series of "gestures." The IOC proposed that the DPRK host one group of the Olympic football tournament, though the record notes the IOC was "surprised" to find that the DPRK had not even entered a team by the FIFA deadline.

Beyond football, the IOC offered the organization of two complete sports—archery or fencing, and table tennis—including the victory ceremonies in Pyongyang. To further the optics of unity, the IOC suggested that two separate teams, one from each Korea, "march together in the parade at the opening ceremony."

Six Sports in Their Entirety

The delegation from the DPRK, led by Mr. Yu Sun Kim, found these gestures insufficient. Mr. Kim did not want a few events; he wanted a share of the prestige. He argued that since the Games would be shared between the two nations, there should be a "common appellation" for them. He suggested that events held in the north be called the "XXIVth Olympic Games – Pyongyang."

More aggressively, the DPRK demanded the right to organize six sports in their entirety: football, table tennis, archery, wrestling, gymnastics, and judo. This was not a request for participation, but a request for co-hosting status. Mr. Kim further insisted on the formation of a separate Organizing Committee (OCOG) within the DPRK to manage these events. When the IOC President pushed back, reminding the delegation that the Games had been awarded specifically to Seoul in 1981, the DPRK representatives remained focused on their list of requirements.

Free Circulation and the Charter

For the Republic of Korea, the demands from the north were an affront to the "Olympic Charter." Mr. Chong-Ha Kim, President of the Korean Olympic Committee, noted that the proposal to modify the name of the Games was "unacceptable" and contradicted the rule that the organization of the Games be entrusted to one city.

From a security and logistical standpoint, the IOC was preoccupied with a more concrete problem: free circulation. The record emphasizes that the movement of approximately 25,000 accredited members of the Olympic family—including 9,000 to 10,000 journalists—between the two Koreas was "of the utmost importance." The IOC questioned whether the Olympic identity card would even suffice for entry into the DPRK, given that there was, at the time, "no communication between the two Koreas."

South Korea's position was rigid. Mr. Chong-Ha Kim reiterated that the DPRK must first confirm its athletes' participation and affirm its respect for the Baden-Baden decision to award the Games to Seoul. While the Republic of Korea eventually agreed to offer table tennis and fencing—replacing archery because it was a "developing sport" in the south—they refused to allocate more than two full sports or allow a separate OCOG to operate.

A Deadlock in Lausanne

The meetings ended without a resolution. The IOC President warned that a breakdown in negotiations could "threaten the success of the Olympic Games," but the DPRK refused to decouple the allocation of sports from the demands for a separate OCOG and a change in the Games' name.

In the final session on June 11, Mr. Kim of the DPRK repeated his demand for judo, wrestling, shooting, or weightlifting in addition to archery and table tennis. He also added women’s volleyball, men’s basketball, and women’s handball to the list of desired events. The record concludes with Mr. Kim confirming the DPRK's previous stance on the issue of free circulation, leaving the question of whether Pyongyang would actually send its athletes to Seoul unanswered.