The Peace Olympics
Korean teams to compete together at Games
NORTH and South Korea have agreed to enter a joint team at next month’s Winter Olympics in a dramatic gesture of reconciliation between the two nations.
Their athletes will march together under one flag at the opening ceremony and they will field a joint women’s ice hockey team at the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea.
The plans were announced yesterday by South Korea president Moon Jae-in following three days of talks between the nations.
The sudden thaw in tensions – which had brought the peninsula closer to all- out war – comes weeks after the countries were at loggerheads over Pyongyang’s nuclear missile ambitions.
The two sides came to an agreement after talks in the village of Panmunjom – the crossing point on the landmine- strewn border between the two Koreas.
Mr Moon said: ‘I believe it will be a great opportunity to thaw a relationship... that is frozen solid.’ The North’s chief delegate, Jon Jongsu, added: ‘Inter-Korean relations have been strained for almost ten years. We hope that ties can open.’
Representatives from both countries will present their plan for a ‘peace games’ to the International Olympic Committee this weekend. These are the first highlevel talks between the two Koreas in more than two years and could represent the biggest move towards reconciliation in more than a decade.
Negotiators have agreed that supporters of both Koreas would cheer for athletes from both countries.
Olympic ice hockey is played by teams of six, chosen from a roster of 23 players. The South Korean proposal is to bend the rules by expanding the roster to 35 for the joint team, allowing 12 North Korean players to take part. So far, the only North Korean athletes to qualify for the Pyeongchang Games are a figure skating team.
The nations have marched together at nine sporting events, often carrying a blue-and-white flag representing a united Korea. They last marched together in the Asian winter games of 2007.
North Korea is getting ‘closer every day’ to developing a nuclear missile capable of striking the US, Donald Trump warned last night. The US President said Pyongyang was achieving steady advances in its technology.
Mr Trump also accused Russia of undermining international sanctions against Kim Jong-un’s rogue nation.
‘Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea,’ he said.
‘What China is helping us with, Russia is denting.’