North and South to march under one Korea flag in ‘peace Olympics’
Opposing countries move to ease tensions with joint approach to winter games during cross-border talks
NORTH and South Korea have agreed to form a joint women’s hockey team and march under the same flag for a parade at next month’s Winter Olympics, in a major step towards easing tensions on the peninsula.
Officials from both sides hope the games, which will be held just 50 miles south of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) will help ease tensions between the North’s isolated dictator and the South’s Us-allied president.
North Korea also said yesterday that it would send a 550-member delegation to the event, in the mountainous county of Pyeongchang, as the two sides met to discuss athlete numbers in the latest in a flurry of cross-border talks. Seoul has attempted to present the event as a “peace Olympics” in the face of tensions over the North’s weapons programme – which has already led to several UN Security Council sanctions – and the discussions represent a marked improvement.
The two nations will march together under a unification flag – a pale blue silhouette of the whole Korean peninsula – at the opening ceremony for the February 9-25 games, according to a press statement issued by the South last night. North Korea, however, declined to discuss plans to send a high-level delegation to the games when the issue was raised by Seoul, Chun Hae-sung, the South’s vice-unification minister, said.
The statement also said that the South will send skiers to the Masikryong ski resort in the North for joint training with the North Koreans. Mr Chun clarified these would be nonolympic skiers.
“The South and North must continue working on remaining issues on the basis of today’s agreements,” Mr Chun told reporters following the meeting at the southern side of the border truce village of Panmunjom.
“We hope the South and North will be able to make the Pyeongchang Olympics a peace Olympics,” Mr Chun added. The International Olympic Committee must approve extra Olympic slots for the North’s athletes after they failed to qualify or missed deadlines to register. The North agreed to send 230 cheerleaders to support athletes from the two Koreas during the Olympics and to form a joint cheering squad with the South.
A 30-strong North Korean taekwondo delegation will also visit the South next month for demonstrations in Pyeongchang and Seoul.
Pyongyang also said it will send a separate 150-member delegation of supporters, athletes, performers, journalists and delegates to the Paralympics in March.
The statement said Seoul will “guarantee the safety and convenience of North Korea’s delegation”, which Mr Chun said referred to transportation, accommodation and other necessary facilities.
In a separate development, Donald Trump last night criticised Russia for undermining efforts to get North Korea to the table with diplomatic pressure. The US president told Reuters: “Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea. What China is helping us with, Russia is denting. In other words, Russia is making up for some of what China is doing.”
Last month it was claimed that Russian tankers had supplied fuel to North Korea on at least three occasions in recent months, violating international sanctions.
Mr Trump also declined to say if he had talked to Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, since taking office and warned that the regime was “close” to developing a missile that could hit America.