I’ve been wondering for months now if I would have the chutzpah to partake in a major world event like the Olympics when it’s taking place just a few hundred miles from a crazy man hell bent on destroying the world?
I speak of course of Kim Jung un up in North Korea. Now I see I’m not alone.
An insider told us that usually NBC staffers are enthusiastic about being sent to the games for work. But with the upcoming Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang — a remote South Korean city 40 miles south of the demilitarized zone that’s changed the capitalization of its name for the games, so as not to be confused with neighboring Pyongyang, North Korea — some workers are choosing to stay home.
“They usually all want to sign up for the Olympics, but they’re afraid to get nuked,” said a source. But another insider told us, “If NBC News employees have concerns about attending, they are not required to go, as was the policy with [the Rio Summer Olympics in 2016] and Zika fears.”
Perhaps as a cautionary tale, one Olympic delegate headed to a meeting in Pyeongchang this year reportedly mistakenly flew to North Korea. Then again, despite the political turmoil on the Korean peninsula, the absence of Matt Lauer should be a draw.