Two Koreas agree to joint march for Athens Olympics

Home>>Sports

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 26, 2004

Two Koreas agree to joint march for Athens Olympics

South Korea and DPRK said they will march together during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece and work toward fielding a joint team for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

South Korea and DPRK said they will march together during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece and work toward fielding a joint team for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Officials from the two Koreas' Olympic Committees held a joint news conference in the Greek capital on Wednesday, where the assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) is being held, to announce the historic agreement.

The South was represented by Lee Yun-taek, president of the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) and honorary executive of the KOC Park Yang-chon while Cho Sang-nam, deputy president of the DPRK Olympic Committee (DPRKOC), and DPRKOC secretary Han Oh-chul attended for the North.

"There were similar suggestions in the past but since I had the great chance to meet Lee this time, we could produce this positive conclusion," Cho said.

"Now with the agreement, we are sure we have paved the way for the inter-Korean relationship," Lee noted in response.

With less than six months to go before the Athens Olympics, both sides agreed that they will hold working-level talks as soon as possible to conclude the details on the joint march.

The Olympics have provided a number of breakthroughs in inter-Korean relations over the years, including the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where the athletes of South Korea and DPRK marched together for the first time in the Olympics under a ``unification'' flag. The two Koreas agreed last year to push for a unified team for Athens, but failed to come up with any concrete results.

The latest agreement is expected to produce a new phase in the relations between the two Koreas with the encouragement of the international community.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge met Lee on Tuesday after he confirmed that the Korean martial art taekwondo would not be excluded from future Olympics, and promised to give his full support for inter-Korean sports exchanges.

The proposed working-level talks are also expected to become regular sports talks between the South and the North.

Source: Agencies

Questions?Comments? Click here

Preparations for Beijing Olympics on schedule

Beijing's traffic problem won't impede Olympics: Mayor

Samaranch confident of Beijing Olympics

"Keep pace with the times" becomes ad title on NY Times ( 4 Messages)

China suspends crude oil exports to Japan ( 11 Messages)

Alstom, front runner in China's high-speed railway bidding ( 4 Messages)

Experts: China may raise renminbi interest rate ( 4 Messages)

Chinese language losing popularity in Singapore ( 24 Messages)