All the world’s eyes are on the Korean Peninsula, but not only because of Kim Jong Un’s controversial nuclear missile tests. South Korea is set to host the Winter Olympics in February.
Scheduled for Feb. 8-25, the games are planned to take place in Pyeongchang, a city of 44,000 people just 50 miles from the North Korean border.
When asked if the host nation would be safe for the event, North Korea’s International Olympic Committee member Ung Chang said, “Nobody knows.”
That uncertainty is reflected in the sluggish ticket sales. The IOC aims to sell 750,000 seats to South Koreans, according to The Guardian. So far, just 52,000 seats have been sold in the country, or seven percent of the goal.
The president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, has said he is confident the Winter Olympics will still go on as planned. But Bach, who will visit the UN next week, refuses to let his organization to play any kind of role in the area’s precarious political situation.