Koreas plan joint bid for ’32 Olympics
pyongyang — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a statement on Wednesday that the countries planned to jointly bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics.
At a major summit, the two leaders gave no details of which cities might host certain events at the games, or how advanced the plans were.
The International Olympic Committee traditionally does not announce host cities until seven years ahead of the games. That would give the Koreas until 2025 to put together a joint bid.
Germany, with a multi-city bid, Brisbane, Australia and Jakarta, Indonesia are among those who have indicated they would bid for the 2032 Games. The India Olympic Committee has also said it could bid for 2032, as has South Africa’s Olympic committee in an attempt to bring the Olympics to Africa for the first time.
A successful bid by the Koreas would mark the second time South Korea hosted or co-hosted the Summer Games. —
The agreement carries the people’s fresh hope and the people’s strong, flaming desire for reunification
Kim Jong-un, North Korea leader
seoul — North Korea’s Kim Jongun agreed to make a historic visit to Seoul soon and close a missile testing site in front of international inspectors at a summit with the South’s President Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang on Wednesday.
Progress on the key issue of the North’s nuclear arsenal was limited, but the two signed a document to strengthen ties between the two halves of the divided peninsula.
Building on a growing rapprochement, they agreed to create a facility to hold family reunions at any time, work towards joining up road and rail links, and mount a combined bid for the 2032 Olympics.
The agreement “carries the people’s fresh hope and the people’s strong, flaming desire for reunification”, Kim said.
His trip to Seoul would be the first by a Northern leader since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, when hostilities ceased with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving them technically in a state of war.
Moon added that the visit could happen this year and would be a “monumental milestone in interKorean relations”.
In their agreement, the North also agreed to “permanently close” a missile engine testing site and launch facility in Tongchang-ri “in the presence of experts from relevant nations”. Moon, who brokered Kim’s historic summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June, had hoped to bring fresh momentum to stalled talks between his hosts and Washington.
Whether that would happen remained unclear.
In Singapore Kim declared his backing for denuclearisation of the peninsula but no details were agreed. Washington and Pyongyang have since sparred over what that means and how it will be achieved.
Trump welcomed Wednesday’s declaration, tweeting that Kim had “agreed to allow Nuclear inspections, subject to final negotiations” and adding: “Very exciting!” But experts were sceptical. The North
The (Kim’s) visit could happen this year and would be a monumental milestone in inter-Korean relations.
Moon Jae-in, S. Korean President
— whose ballistic missile programme is banned under UN Security Council resolutions — has carried out several long-range rocket launches from the site, also known as Sohae, but has also used many other locations including Pyongyang airport.
“Kim is playing this brilliantly: verify that I dismantle a single site that I no longer need anyway while I mass-produce the missiles the site helped me develop,” said Vipin Narang of MIT.
Moon also said the North could close its Yongbyon nuclear plant if Washington takes “corresponding measures” — a significant caveat.
Arms control expert Jeffrey Lewis said the consensus view was that the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon “was built for (the) express purpose of being sacrificed”.
After the high symbolism of Moon and Kim’s first meeting in April in the Demilitarised Zone, and the Singapore summit, progress has largely stalled.
Washington is pressing for the North’s “final, fully verified denuclearisation”, while Pyongyang wants a formal declaration that the Korean War is over and has condemned “gangster-like” demands for it to give up its weapons unilaterally. —