S. Korea ‘ready to welcome world’, including North

Calls for Russian blanket 2018 Games doping ban slammed

PRAGUE, Nov 4, (AFP): South Korea is ready to welcome the world at the 2018 Winter Olympics, including athletes from its sabre-rattling neighbour North Korea, chief organiser Lee HeeBeom said in Prague on Friday.

“Korea is ready to welcome the world. We will welcome all eligible athletes and National Olympic Committees (NOCs), including DPR Korea,” he said at a meeting of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) in the Czech capital.

The nuclear-armed northern neighbour has been a constant source of concern ahead of the Pyeongchang Games, which will take place from February 9 to 25 just 80 kms (50 miles) from the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone which divides the Korean peninsula.

Countries including France and Australia contemplated staying at home after North Korea carried out its sixth nuclear test in September — by far its most powerful yet.

But Lee insisted the Pyeongchang Games would be an “Olympics of peace and harmony.”

“Safety is the (organising committee’s) primary concern,” he said, adding South Korea had hosted an NOC security workshop last week.

“The Korean government has also organised a special taskforce to ensure the coordination of all Games security,” added Lee.

Lee added that all buildings and infrastructure for the Games were ready, while the high-speed KTX rail from Incheon to Pyeongchang would open in December.

“The construction of direct highways from Incheon to Pyongchang has also been completed,” said Lee.

Addressing concerns about empty stadiums, also fuelled by the North Korean threat, Lee said the organising committee was “committed to ensuring full stadia,” without elaborating.

Meanwhile, a congress of national Olympic committees on Friday slammed calls for a blanket ban on Russian athletes for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, warning against politics interfering with sports.

Meeting in Prague for two days, the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) said in its final resolutions that protecting clean athletes “continues to be a top priority.”

It added it had “full confidence in the ongoing investigations by the Schmid and Oswald Commissions” looking into doping cases cited in the McLaren report alleging state-sponsored doping in Russia in 2011-2015.

But the ANOC said it was “unacceptable that specific sanctions are already being demanded in the public domain before these two Commissions have even completed their work”.

“This includes, in particular, calls by some for a resolution by (the anti-doping agency) WADA for a blanket ban of all Russian athletes for the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018, because this would be an infringement of the WADA code.”