IOC, S. Korea to discuss joint Korean teams, says Bach

MUJU, South Korea: IOC chief Thomas Bach and South Korean President Moon Jae-In will next week discuss the possibility of joint Korean teams competing at next year’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the German said Friday.

Seoul’s new president – who backs engagement with the nuclear-armed North – made the suggestion at the World Taekwondo Federation championships in Muju last weekend.

In South Korea’s Pyeongchang next year, Moon said he would like to see again “the glory” of past events “where the South and the North achieved the best- ever results by fielding joint teams”.

He also suggested the two Koreas jointly participate in the Games’ opening ceremony, as they did at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

South Korean officials have repeatedly urged the North – which boycotted the 1988 Seoul Olympics – to take part in Pyeongchang, touting the idea of a “peace Olympics” on the divided peninsula, which remains technically at war without a peace treaty to formally end the 1950- 53 Korean War. But no North Korean athletes have so far qualified for Pyeongchang, raising the prospect that none will attend in any case.

In Muju, Bach said he appreciated “the message of President Moon to see the Olympic Games as a possibility for dialogue and reconciliation”.

He would discuss “what could be done in this respect” in talks with Moon on Monday, after the South Korean leader returned from a visit to the United States, he added. — AFP