London 2012 – Site for Political Animosities: South Korea and Japan in Confrontational Rational ‘Irrationality’ (Part One: Long Memories)

Abstract

Sport and politics have a close relationship. Political conflicts are re-enacted, reflected and reinforced on international sports stages. In East Asia, the past casts a long shadow! It darkened the London 2012 stage. Controversy followed a South Korean football player's celebration at the London Olympics semi-final match between South Korea and Japan. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned the player, Park, Jong-woo, from participating in the bronze medal ceremony. He was accused by the IOC of a political act that violated IOC and FIFA regulations. Park's celebration included holding up and carrying around a sign which was interpreted by the IOC as a political message about a South Korean territorial dispute with Japan. The incident became a lead story in the South Korean media. The IOC's decision caused intense nationwide indignation and an outpouring of anti-Japanese sentiment. It was not a unique incident. This essay examines media representations of the incident and how political controversies between South Korea and Japan are reproduced, intensified and exacerbated by media reporting of international sports events. In South Korea, insult was added to injury by the fact that IOC's disapproval of Park's behaviour was contrasted in the South Korean media and by the public with the IOC's silence regarding the Japanese gymnastics team's uniform emblazoned with the ‘Rising Sun’ flag. The evidence from the incident is clear. Mega-sports events can be inflammatory occasions for the expression of hostile and heated political expression. Nowhere is this more the case than in East Asia with its long history of fierce national animosities and memories of national hostilities and humiliations. Throughout East Asia, international sport has become a potent medium for perpetuating painful memories!