This general view of the main stadium, which will host the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon from September 19 to October 4. (AFP)
Organisers of the Asian Games opening ceremony took a pot-shot at previous extravaganzas yesterday when they said they won’t “simply show off” at next month’s event in South Korea.
Artistic director Jang Jin took aim at Olympic ceremonies in Beijing, London and Sochi as he unveiled details of Incheon’s K-Pop-influenced show on September 19. Jang said it would be “unlike the previous Asian Games and Olympics that focused on flaunting their national power, such as 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, 2012 London Olympics, and 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
“The opening and closing ceremonies of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games won’t simply show off a scale but try to deliver a clear message, ‘4.5 billion Asians dream, Asia as one’,” the film director said.
The comments do at least lower expectations for the opening ceremony, which has a tough act to follow compared with the lavishly funded Olympics shows of recent years.
However, money does not always buy quality and there were bemused reactions to the giant teddy bears which paraded at Russia’s Sochi Winter Olympics opener in February.
“Gangnam Style” singer Psy is among the stars of Korean music and TV, which is wildly popular in Asia, who are performing, and there will also be poetry and choral singing.
“Everyone is working hard to make the opening and closing ceremonies of the Incheon Asian Games... festivals that build harmony and consideration for others,” said executive producer Lim Kwon-Taek.
S Korea regrets North’s cheerleaders withdrawal
South Korea expressed regret over North Korea’s “unilateral” withdrawal of its proposal to send cheerleaders to accompany its athletes at next month’s Asian Games.
“We feel very regretful over North Korea’s unilateral announcement,” Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-Cheol told reporters.
He said Seoul would not send an official request again for the dispatch of North Korean cheerleaders. “There is no change in our basic position that we will welcome North Korean cheerleaders... but we will respect their decision,” he said. Lim refuted accusations by Son Kwang-Ho, vice head of the North’s Olympic Committee, that Seoul was not happy with the dispatch of North Korean cheerleaders. “As the south side is displeased with the dispatch of our cheerleading squad, we decided not to send it to the 17th Asian Games,” Son said.
Son accused Seoul of treating North Korean cheerleaders as a political propaganda tool aimed at creating discord in the South. But he did not retract the North’s plan to dispatch athletes and sports officials to the September 19-October 4 Games, Asia’s biggest sporting event, in the South’s western port of Incheon.
Initially North Korea had planned to send 350 cheerleaders to Incheon. But Pyongyang officials walked out of a meeting last month, reportedly after Seoul proposed breaking with its custom of financially supporting sports teams visiting from the North. Tensions have been high between the two countries after the North carried out an extended series of rocket and missile launches.