South picks Seoul in joint DPRK Games bid
SOUTH Korea has picked its capital Seoul for its bid for the 2 0 32 su m mer Ol y mpic s , which it aims to joint ly host with North Korea.
The Koreas wi l l of f icia l ly i n f or m t he I nt e r nat iona l Oly mpic Committee of their decision to bid at an event in L ausa nne, Sw it zerla nd, on Friday.
North Korea is expected to announce its candidate cit y later t his week – t he l i kely choice is its capital Pyongyang – before or dur i ng t he IOC meeting, Seoul of f icia ls told AFP.
The decision to pursue a joint bid – as well as to joint ly participate in t he 2020 Tok yo Summer Games – was made fol low i ng a ser ies of i nterKorea n t a l k s la st yea r, a s cross-border reconci l iat ion gathered pace.
In a meet i ng held by t he countr y’s Oly mpic committee on Monday, Seoul edged out its rival, the southern port cit y of Busan.
‘Change Korea’s fate’
Seoul mayor Park Won-soon said he would ensure the bid ser ves as a n opportunit y to “change the fate of the Korean peninsula”.
“If the 1988 Seoul Oly mpics was ‘reconciliation Olympics’ a mid t he cold war bet ween East a nd West a nd t he 2018 PyeongChang Olympics was a touchstone of peace, t he 2032 Oly mpics wi l l be promoted to become the last stop to establish t he peace”.
The last time Seoul hosted t he su mmer Oly mpics, i n 1988, P yong ya ng boycotted the Games.
But i n recent mont hs t he Koreas have turned to sports diplomacy to ease tensions.
Dur i ng t he P yeongcha ng Winter Oly mpics la st yea r, North Korea sent leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, t o e x pr e s s t he r e c l u s i v e regime’s interest in an interKorean summit.
The unif ied Korea n women’s ice hockey team was a lso a s y mb o l o f u n i t y i n Pyeongchang, despite losing a ll t heir games and f inishing last.
Landmark summit
K i m Jong Un went on to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in three times in the wake of the Games and held a landmark summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June.
However, the joint bid poses some difficulties. North Korea is subject to economic sanctions and t hese are unlikely to be lifted by the UN Security Council unless Pyongyang t a kes f i r mer steps towa rd denuclearisation.