Seoul Olympics

The 24th Summer Olympics were held in Seoul, bringing both Cold War blocs together after years of boycotts.

At its 1981 session in Baden-Baden, West Germany, the International Olympic Committee chose Seoul over Nagoya, Japan. Seoul also hosted the 1986 Asian Games. The Seoul Olympics, held from 17 September to 2 October 1988, drew 160 countries; only a few, including North Korea and Cuba, stayed away.

The West had boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games and the communist bloc the 1984 Los Angeles Games, but the Soviet Union, China and the Eastern European states came to Seoul. South Korea finished fourth overall. Growing contacts with the communist world gave momentum to the Roh Tae-woo government’s Nordpolitik.