Koreas to meet IOC in February on joint Olympic bid

SEOUL: The two Koreas on Friday 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.

Nor th and South Korean officials will meet with the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland on Feb 15 to discuss the prospects of co-hosting the 2032 Olympics, according to a joint statement following a crossborder meeting 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 Jaein 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 on the same team, but the South’s chief delegate said a decision will be reached in the next few weeks.

“We agreed to narrow down the sports to those that will see a synergy effect under cooperation between the South and North,” vice sports minister Roh Tae-kang said after the meeting, according to pool reports.