North Korea wants to send a high-ranking delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The North has offered to send a high-level delegation to the Games,”a spokesman for the South Korean Ministry of Association told journalists.
The delegation was to consist of “athletes, representatives of the national Olympic Committee, artists, a fan group, observers, a Taekwondo demonstration team and journalists”, it continued. Until recently, North Korea had created major political tensions in the region with arms and missile tests. In his New Year’s speech, North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-Un then surprisingly announced that he would send a delegation to the Games.
At the summit on Tuesday in the border town of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone of Korea, high-ranking representatives of the hostile countries met. South Korea’s five-member delegation was led by Association Minister Cho Myung Gyon. Pyongyang’s inter-Korean affairs officer, Ri Son Gwon, led the group from the north.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide on participation from Wednesday, but had already welcomed the move in advance. The ring order wanted to be “as flexible as possible” for a start of North Korean athletes in Pyeongchang and already extended the registration deadlines.