The 1988 Seoul Olympics represented a watershed moment for South Korea that had dramatic implications for the future of the country both domestically and in the international arena. The games were not, however, without controversy, and they became yet another battleground in the larger cold war on the Korean Peninsula between the North and the South. The years leading up to the games would see North Korea attempt to secure at least some of the economic and reputational benefits afforded to Olympics host nations for itself and, when that outcome was denied to it, the North would instead turn to violence in an effort to deny South Korea from acquiring those same benefits.
