Rising fears over S Korea 2018 Winter Olympic cost

More and more nations are realizing the extremely inflated costs of this and other one-shot ponies and that it does nothing for the host nation save cripple it financially. Now only nations like China or other dictatorships want to go for the Games while others are bailing on the bids, or nations like Japan which want everything under the sun to be hosted in its borders. It's a shame too many of these nations it too late, or some, like with Japan Sapporo, know but are still willing to fob the bill off on the tax payer so politicians can get a little bit of recognition and cash from bid-rigging in their pockets. The IOC is talking about how to cut costs to address this issue, but the won't be able to do it in any satisfactory manner.

More and more nations are realizing the extremely inflated costs

Dumb excuse. If you don't have the financial backing, stop bidding to host them.

Could you elaborate on how the Olympics can help improve a country? The Olympics is not going to make Korean people lifes easier, much more the opposite. They are not going to make money from the Olympics. Most cities lose lots of money and if they don't convert the facilities to some other use after the Olympics the facilities cost too much to maintain and fall into disrepair. Other than the building contractors no one in the city is going to profit, so the fame is about the only real benefit from hosting the games.

Construction is way behind schedule as well.

Dumb excuse. If you don't have the financial backing, stop bidding to host them.

I think that is precisely what he is saying. Too expensive, no one wants the white elephant that the Olympics have become.

Korea should give it to Japan. That way Japan can host the winter and the summer Olympics back to back. Japan has limitless finances, they can just print more money, and it's fabulously rich.

Korea and particularly Japan are poor countries who cannot waste money on the Olympics.

Both Tokyo and Pyeongchang have the venues and resources to fund their Olympics. As London 2012 proved, costs can be substantially reduced and still retain the ethos of the games.