S. Korea begins talks with IOC on NK’s PyeongChang participation

The South Korean delegation began their prep meeting with the International Olympic Committee on North Korea’s PyeongChang Winter Olympics participation in Switzerland on Friday.

The real meeting on the following day is slated to begin Saturday at 9:30 a.m. in Lausanne, or 5:30 p.m. Seoul time.

The working-level team led by Kim Ki-hong, vice president of games planning for the PyeongChang Olympics organizing committee, attended the technical meeting with the IOC at its headquarters in Lausanne from around 11 a.m., reports said.

The South Korean delegation is made up of Do Jong-hwan, sports minister; Lee Hee-beom, head of PyeongChang’s Olympic organizing committee; Lee Kee-heung, president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee; and Ryu Seung-min, an IOC member.

From the North, Kim Il-guk, the sports minister and head of its national Olympic committee, and Chang Ung, the North’s lone IOC member, are to join the IOC discussion.

IOC President Thomas Bach will chair a four-party meeting Saturday to discuss the North’s presence at the Feb. 9-25 games, the first Winter Games to take place in South Korea.

The IOC earlier said the meeting will involve representatives from PyeongChang’s organizing committee and the two national Olympic bodies, plus high-ranking government officials and IOC members from the two countries.

The participants are expected to discuss the agreement made between the two Koreas, and particularly the plan for a joint march at the opening ceremony and forming a single Korean team in women’s hockey.

The last time the Koreas paraded in under one flag at an Olympics was at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.

Kim Ki-hong, while leaving for the working-level talks, was quoted as telling reporters that the South and the North would each hold discussion with the IOC first.

A member of the South Korean delegation was quoted as saying that they briefly exchanged greetings during breakfast.

The IOC earlier said its meeting “will have to take a series of essential decisions,” including the size of the North Korean athletic delegation, the format of North Korea’s participation and issues related to the official protocol, such as flags, anthems and uniforms.

Do, the South Korean sports minister, said the “Korean Unification” flag will be raised at the opening ceremony if the Koreas agree to march in together.

The Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.


From news reports (khnews@heraldcorp.com)