Park She-jik (Center) at the interview. (Guangzhou Daily)

Written by Xu Feng, Huang Dantong, Li Zongyi, translated by Chen Wenqiong

On a sunny afternoon, 75-year-old Pak She-jik, president of the Organizing Committee of the 1988 Olympic Games and ex-minister of the Korean Ministry of Sports as well as the former mayor of Seoul, revealed to us his plan of the 24th Olympiad, the second Olympic Games held in Asia.

Park She-jik is a household name in Korea, not only because he was once Minister of the National Security Planning Department and mayor of Seoul, but also because of his successful planning and organization of three grand sport gatherings: the 1986 Seoul Asian Games, the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and the 2002 World Cup.

With the Olympics, city planning and development caused main stadiums and surrounding regions to prosper, creating profound changes. The land in Kangnam district is currently the most expensive in the capital city, developing at an overall faster pace than the opposite bank.

After the Olympic Games, the price of land in Kangnam district skyrocketed ten times in a short period. At that time, though neither well-educated nor capable, many people became millionaires overnight.

Houses worth 300-400 million Korean Won increased almost ten times in value to 2-3 billion Won (equal to US $3.97 million). People now living in Kangnam are mostly political and show biz celebrities.