Talks on unified Korean Olympic team delayed

SEOUL (Reuters) – North and South Korean talks to form a
joint Olympic team are likely to be delayed due to the
diplomatic fallout over Pyongyang’s decision to test-fire
missiles earlier this month, an official said on Wednesday.

The Olympic committees for the two Koreas were scheduled to
hold their next round of talks on Thursday and Friday on
forming their first joint team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“It seems like those talks will be delayed,” a South Korean
Olympic Committee official said.

The official, who asked not to be identified, said they
have not been able to contact their counterparts from the North
about a schedule for the discussions, adding that tensions over
North Korea’s multiple missile launches was probably the
reason.

North Korean delegates stormed out of a joint-ministerial
meeting last week in Pusan, South Korea, after Seoul officials
pressed the North to explain why it had defied international
warnings and test-fired seven missiles on July 5.

North Korea said Seoul would “pay a price” for souring
inter-Korean relations after the cabinet-level talks broke
down.

Still technically at war after the 1950-53 war ended
without a peace treaty, the two Koreas first considered
competing as a joint team at the 1964 Tokyo Games. But years of
acrimony and military tensions have kept it as just an idea.

Sports officials from the two Koreas agreed in November
2005 to compete as a single sports team in Beijing and Doha,
venue of December’s Asian Games.

The two Koreas have marched together at Olympic Games, most
recently at this year’s Winter Games in Turin, but competed as
separate teams.

The discussions on forming a single team also hit a snag on
the selection criteria.

South Korea wants a team comprised of the best athletes on
the peninsula, while Pyongyang is insisting the team be
composed of equal parts South and North Korean athletes.

South Korea, with better funded sports programs and a
population more than double the North’s, produces more
world-class athletes than its neighbor on the peninsula.