WASHINGTON, D.C. - United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Fox News Thursday that whether the U.S. Olympic Team goes to South Korea is "an open question."
Haley said it would depend on what was happening in the region. She also said the administration would want to keep the athletes safe while in PyeongChang.
Haley said there were concerns about North Korea's nuclear testing and an increasingly tense relationship between the US and North Korea.
Some of the Olympic venues are only 50 miles from the Demilitarized Zone.
But can the U.S. government really keep Team USA from going to the Olympics?
In 1980, the United States boycotted the Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union. President Jimmy Carter said in a speech that he would not support sending a U.S. delegation of athletes because of the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan.
But according to the U.S. Olympic Committee, it's not the president or anyone else in the administration who can decide to skip an Olympics.
It's up to the U.S. Olympic Committee, which would have to vote on whether to stay or go.
And according to a USOC Spokesman, that's a possibility that hasn't been raised yet. The USOC said in a statement:
“We have not had any discussions, either internally or with our government partners, about the possibility of not taking teams to the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. We plan on supporting two full delegations in PyeongChang.”
