SEOUL: South Korea promised Tuesday that the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang would be safe after some nations suggested they may skip the event if tensions over North Korea鈥檚 nuclear ambitions worsen.
The Pyeongchang Winter Games will be held from February 9-25 only 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the heavily guarded border with the nuclear-armed North.
French and Austrian officials last week raised the prospect of not sending athletes as US and North Korean leaders intensified their war of words.
Seoul鈥檚 foreign ministry played down the security fears, saying it is working through diplomatic channels to reassure the participants.
鈥淭he South Korean government is doing its utmost to ensure that the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and Paralympics will be safe,鈥� said ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-Duk.
鈥淎s of now, no country has officially said it will not participate.鈥�
Tensions have soared following Pyongyang鈥檚 sixth and most powerful nuclear test on September 3, which triggered a heated volley of threats and personal insults between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
Trump has threatened to 鈥渢otally destroy鈥� North Korea, while Kim hit back with a personal attack on Trump 鈥� branding him 鈥渕entally deranged鈥� and warning he would pay dearly for his threats.
In the latest episode of the saga, the North鈥檚 foreign minister claimed on Monday that Trump鈥檚 latest comments amounted to a declaration of war.
But the head of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Lee Hee-Beom said earlier this month there was no 鈥減lan B鈥� to move the Games and next year鈥檚 event would have 鈥減erfect security鈥� despite the nuclear tensions.
The South has successfully staged several international sporting events including the 2002 football World Cup despite decades of military tensions on the peninsula.
The 1988 Seoul summer Olympics took place only months after a bomb planted by North Korean agents killed all 115 people on board a South Korean plane, in an apparent attempt to scare off foreign spectators and contestants.