Rites of Passage: The 1988 Seoul Olympics as Public Diplomacy

In 1981, the government of the Republic of Korea succeeded in its bid to host the 1988 summer Olympics. In this essay, the author reviews the objectives of the Korean government in staging the Olympic Games, and considers the Games' effects on the domestic politics and external news portrayals of South Korea. This paper is based on three observational visits to the Republic of Korea in 1987 and 1988, interviews with Korean government and Olympic officials charged with planning and implementing external communications, and content analysis of news coverage associated with the host countries of three Olympic Games, those of 1964, 1968, and 1988.