New spirit of detente as Koreas chase 2032 Games

– The two Koreas yesterday agreed to hold talks with the International Olympic Committee on their joint bid for the 2032 Summer Games in February, Seoul said, as a rapid diplomatic thaw takes hold on the peninsula.

North and South Korean officials will meet with the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland on February 15 to discuss the prospects of co-hosting the 2032 Olympics, according to a joint statement yesterday.

Making a joint bid for the 2032 Games was part of a broader agreement made between the North’s leader Kim Jong-un and the South’s President Moon Jae-in during their third summit in Pyongyang in September.

If it materialises, it will mark the first time for the Olympics, summer or winter, to be shared by two countries.

The two sides also agreed to form unified teams at the Tokyo Summer Paralympics in 2020, in addition to their earlier deal to jointly compete at the Olympics in the same year.

They have yet to determine which Olympic sport will have North and South Koreans in the same team, but the South’s chief delegate said a decision would be reached soon.

The two Koreas technically remain at war after the 195053 Korean War ended with an armistice instead of a peace treaty with military clashes often erupting along the frontier.

But ties improved dramatically after Pyongyang sent athletes and top delegates – including leader Kim’s younger sister – to the 2018 Winter Games in the South in February, for which the two rivals also formed a joint women’s ice hockey team. – AFP