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Original post:

IOC doesn’t want South Korean player to accept bronze after making political statement

The London Olympics began with a flap about delicate Korean political tensions. The Games will end with one too.

IOC officials have recommended that a South Korean soccer player will be barred from collecting his bronze medal after he celebrated his team's victory over Japan by holding a sign that addressed an ongoing, hot-button political flap in the region.

Jongwoo Park held up a sign that read, "Dokdo is our land," a reference to a peninsula that both the Japanese and Koreans claim as their own.

Following a review, the IOC requested that Park not take part in the medal ceremony due to violation of rules prohibiting political statements by athletes.

Earlier in the day, South Korean president Lee Myung-bak raised political anxieties by traveling to the group of uninhabited islets (called Takeshima in Japanese). The Associated Press reports he told policeman that the islands were "worth sacrificing lives for."

A Japanese official called Lee's trip "incomprehensible."

At the start of the Olympics, the South Korean flag was displayed during a North Korean soccer game. Officials from North Korea refused to let their players take the pitch until a correction was made.

UPDATE: South Korea complied with the IOC's request that Park be excluded from the medal ceremony on Saturday. The crowd at Wembley Stadium was informed of his absence.

~end of original post~

Chase, Chris. “IOC doesn’t want South Korean player to accept bronze after making political statement.” Yahoo Sports. Updated 11 Aug. 2012. Accessed 13 Aug. 2012.
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Dear Park Jongwoo,

Congratulations on your efforts and work for the bronze medal in the men’s soccer olympics! I’m sorry that you had to have the medal taken away. And it must be truly disappointing that you may have to go to the military service because of it. It was a brave thing you did, to show your patriotism towards Korea. However, it was a foolish thing as well.

The Olympics is where the countries of the world set aside their political grudges and relations and purely compete in sports, to find who is truly the best at what. To disturb the political peace within the boundaries of the Olympics with such a controversial statement, is like setting fire to quick-burning kindling. It may cause a big eruption. As a person of the tantamount nationality, I feel guilt and sorrow that one of the players couldn’t get the first bronze soccer medal that we have earned. Especially one of the soccer players. However, this may have caused us to do exactly what your sign asked not. It may have raised the possibility of Dokdo being Japanese territory more than before. Because not only Japanese and Koreans watch and attend the Olympics, other countries who have not thought or noticed much about the small and insignificant problem may have thought this a big upcoming deal ought to be dealt with by the bigger countries, although it is not at all so. Hopefully, you realize your mistake and you will still be able to continue in your great career as a soccer player representing Korea.

Sincerely,

Sylvia Freud

 

Dear President Lee Myung-Bak,

It’s an honor to write to the president of Korea, and it puts me half to shame that I need slightly criticize your doings in this first correspondence. However, your act of raising ‘political tension’ concerning the land problem with Dokdo could be devastating to our country. If this comes to the concern of international meetings and debates, then we no longer have a given right to claim Dokdo as our land until the international meeting comes to a conclusion. For the past however-so-many years, Koreans have been peacefully living in Dokdo with not much of a grudge and problem besides the occasional claiming by Japan. It was always shrugged off because of the much obvious fact that Dokdo was and is Korean land. It was neither brought to attention or changed at all. It was considered as just the Japanese babbling amongst themselves over territory.

I hope that you recognize your mistake and that you will take no further action concerning our and the Japanese’s ‘argument’ over Dokdo. Because ignoring their comments will be the most we can do to keep Dokdo Korean territory on our map. As long as only the Japanese believe Dokdo is their territory, we are fine. But if the whole world begins to see it as so, it is then that the true problem occurs and action towards the right is necessary. For now, I hope that you remain indifferent with the current situation.

Sincerely,

Sylvia Freud