NCS4 Visiting Scholar Played Role in South Korea Winter Olympics Bid

Dong-Young LEE has an extra spring in his step, and for good reason.

A visiting security scholar from South Korea at The University of Southern Mississippi's National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS⁴), Young is celebrating the news that Pyeongchang, South Korea was chosen as the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The news has additional significance for Young, a professor of police science at Daebul University in South Jeolla, South Korea as he serves as a security advisor for the country's Olympic Winter Games bid committee. After the country's failed attempts to secure the Winter Olympics in 2010 and 2014, the third time was the charm Wednesday when the International Olympics Committee (IOC) announced the decision.

“We tried again because we realized the bidding process itself is challenging like sports, and to succeed we needed persistence and patience like the athletes who participate in the games,” Young said. “I thank God and everyone who worked so hard to make this a reality.”

He is conducting research at NCS⁴research on sporting event safety and security, particularly as related to large international sporting events, and plans to use the knowledge he gains through the Center to assist the 2018 Winter Olympic Games organizing committee.

“I'm thrilled for Young,” said NCS⁴director Dr. Lou Marciani. “You can't help but be inspired by the committee's refusal to give up on securing a bid for South Korea, and I know he made an important contribution to that effort.”

Young served as a police inspector in charge of security at Korea Broadcasting System when South Korea hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics. Prior to entering academia, he also spent 12 years as National Police Inspector, Security and Special Investigation Advisor for Government Committees.

Established in 2006, The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security was created to provide an interdisciplinary academic environment to further increase sport security awareness, improve sport security policies and procedures and enhance emergency response through evacuation, recovery operations and crowd management training. The Center will host the second annual National Sports Safety and Security Conference and Exhibition Aug. 2-4.

For more information about NCS⁴ or the conference, call 601.266.6183; online, visit www.ncs4.com