Seoul Olympics director clarifies pigeon incident as optical illusion

Pyo Jae-soon, the general director of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, explained that the widely known story of pigeons burning in the torch flames was actually an optical illusion caused by the perspective of the spectator seats.

Pyo Jae-soon, the general director of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, has spoken out regarding various incidents and behind-the-scenes stories surrounding the games. In a video released through the YouTube channel Song Seung-hwan's Wonderful Life, Pyo, an expert who experienced both the Seoul Olympics and the PyeongChang Olympics, recounted the urgent situations on the ground at the time.

"Pigeons did not burn to death"... Clarification on the 88 Olympics 'pigeon incident'

Pyo provided a clear stance on the so-called "torch flame pigeon incident" that was said to have occurred during the 1988 Seoul Olympics. While the public has been imprinted with the story—popularized through works such as the drama Reply 1988—that pigeons burned to death in the torch flames and were subsequently cleaned up by someone, Pyo explained that this is not true. The committee at the time also officially clarified that such an incident did not occur.

He explained, "When the flames approach the torch stand, the pigeons all fly away. There is no way a pigeon would stay still in the flames." He added that "as the flames soared, the sight of pigeons flying away coincided with the perspective of the three-dimensional spectator seats, creating an optical illusion that made it look as if they were burning to death in the flames." Drawing on his experience overseeing both the Seoul and PyeongChang Olympics, he emphasized, "Pigeons can absolutely never burn to death," suggesting that the story of pigeons burning to death and being picked up to be buried was a dramatic setting.

Olympic preparation involving 70,000-person rehearsals and overnight meetings

The difficulties of the Olympic preparation process were also mentioned. Pyo described the situation of having to accommodate the massive requirements of the organizing committee at the time, speaking about the large-scale rehearsals involving 70,000 people that were conducted twice during the Seoul Olympics. "To make it look like the real thing, we held rehearsals for 70,000 people twice," he recalled. "Because we conducted rehearsals while not fully prepared, shortcomings were revealed, and we had to devote a lot of time to supplementing them."

At the time, the directing team rented rooms at The Plaza Hotel to continue overnight meetings to revise scripts and planning. Planning committee members, including planning commissioner Lee O-young, revised scripts, and they moved urgently by having Park Se-hee present to make immediate corrections whenever problems arose. Pyo described the intense situation, noting how urgent it was to the point of saying, "Take responsibility for the Han River," and credited the success of such a massive event not only to the efforts of the directing staff but also to the collective spirit of the entire nation.

2002 World Cup Eve festival: A dizzying moment when the stage was emptied by sudden heavy rain

Sudden unexpected situations during the 2002 World Cup Eve festival were also revealed. Pyo, who directed the Eve festival at the time, stated that he had the dizzying experience of the stage being emptied due to sudden heavy rain during the event held at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

Due to budget issues at the time, preparations such as installing tents for rain or recording programs were not properly carried out. "Dark clouds gathered, and then the rain poured down," he recalled. "Because it was a live broadcast, a situation occurred where the orchestra and performers had to leave the stage." He recounted the urgent moment when they had to manage the situation by deploying Kim Duk-soo's Samulnori troupe to continue the performance amidst the crisis of an empty stage. He mentioned that it was such a difficult time that he experienced panic disorder while recalling the situation in the control room.

Source: original video (YouTube)