ROK Banners Referencing Admiral Yi Sun-shin Taken Down from Olympic Village
This is down right childish, but what do you expect when it comes to the continuing pissing matches between the ROK and Japan:
South Korea on Saturday took down banners at its Olympic athletes’ village with a nod to history, following a request from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) said the IOC had raised issues with the message written across a few banners, initially hung on balconies at South Korean athletes’ rooms at the village in Tokyo. The letters translated as, “I still have support from 50 million Korean people.”
This was in reference to the famous words left by Admiral Yi Sun-sin before he and his undermanned fleet took on Japan in a naval battle in 1597. Yi, one of the most revered historical figures in South Korea, told King Seonjo of the Joseon Dynasty: “I still have 12 battleships left” and then maneuvered those dozen vessels to take down some 300 Japanese ships.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but instead of worrying about something that happened in the 16th century you would think these athletes would be more focused on the competition.
The only political statements that will be allowed at the Olympics will be athletes wiping their ass with the American flag.
” “I still have support from 50 million Korean people.””
So why is this a problem for the Japanese? But it’s OK to wave their Nazi flags and spew racial hate attacks through megaphones.
In theory the modern Olympics were created to be apolitical. (I’ll leave a spot here for certain posters to look up apolitical) The IOC has been haphazard at best in enforcement. My guess is someone in the KSOC was bragging about the banners to someone in the IOC. Host country used Google translate & a history professor and realized it was a shot at the host country. KSOC smiles broadly as their banners got the attention they wanted. No athletes were harmed in the making of this publicity stunt.