This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Kathryn Weathersby. They speak about the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games, its origins and the bidding process, its value as an economic showcase, hopes that the Games would help build diplomatic bridges to communist and non-aligned nations, North Korea’s response to the Games, the nature of the Cold War divide, the challenge for legitimacy on the Korean peninsula, North Korea’s resort to terrorism with the downing of Korean Air flight 858, Pyongyang’s hopes that this would cause a boycott of the Games, the international response, Nordpolitik and Seoul’s outreach to Moscow, Beijing and Budapest, the overwhelming success of the games, and its extraordinary impact on the Cold War dynamic.

Kathryn Weathersby is a Visiting Scholar at the US Korea Institute at the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University, and is a Fellow at the Institute for Contemporary Asia Studies (ICAS). Kathryn is also the Director for the Korea Initiative of the Cold War International History Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, which focusses on analysing newly emerging historical documents on North Korea from its former communist allies. Kathryn’s previous appearance on this podcast can be found at: The Korea Now Podcast #17 – Kathryn Weathersby – ‘Dividing Korea - Politics, War and Fear’

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