Britain has evacuation plans for 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics

The 2018 Winter Games will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea from February 9-25. (Source: File)

British Olympic leaders have plans in place to evacuate athletes from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The British Olympic Association isn’t expecting to have to implement those emergency procedures in South Korea, but is preparing for the worst-case scenario.

BOA chief executive Bill Sweeney says “we are working on all possible contingency plans. The only one you have in the situation of the extreme event … is evacuation.”

Pyeongchang is 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the heavily-armed border with North Korea.

Tensions have risen in the region as North Korea has built up its nuclear weapons program and has accelerated weapons tests in recent months.

The BOA says it also had evacuation plans for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.