IOC to urge Koreas to form unified '08 Games team
Posted on: Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 07:37 CDT
By Karolos Grohmann
ATHENS (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee said on Tuesday it would hold talks with South and North Korean Olympic Committee officials next week in a bid form a unified team in time for the 2008 Beijing Games.
"President Jacques Rogge is meeting the National Olympic Committees next week," an IOC official said. "We can confirm that."
The official said Rogge would meet both in Lausanne.
A South Korean Olympic Committee official earlier said Rogge would meet Kim Jung-kil, president of the country's Olympic Committee on September 5.
He said Rogge had also invited North Korea to attend but there has been no confirmation of the meeting by North Korea.
North Korea delayed the discussions on a joint team because of the diplomatic tension over its test-firing of missiles in July.
The two sides have also failed to agree on how the unified team should be selected with Pyongyang saying there should be equal representation and Seoul insisting the selection should be based on merit.
The Olympic committees for the two Koreas had been scheduled to hold their next round of talks on forming their first joint team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics on July 20 and 21.
However North Korean delegates quit a joint-ministerial meeting in mid-July 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 tension have kept it as just an idea.
The two Koreas have marched together at Olympic Games, most recently at this year's Winter Games in Turin, but competed as separate teams.
Source: REUTERS
Related Articles
- Oroweat(R) Extends U.S. Olympic Team Partnership
- N. Korea Requests Increased S. Korean Aid
- Talks on unified Korean Olympic team delayed
- Norwegian papers turn on "failed" Olympic team
- Hurdles ahead for two Koreas' single Olympic team
- NHL: Bure retires to hear Russia's Olympic team
- Two Koreas to compete as single team at Games
- Two Koreas agree to compete as single team at Games
- North and South Korea to Open Joint Office
- Four 2006 U.S. Olympic Team Hopefuls Training to Compete in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games Join Team 24 Hour Fitness
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds