Koreas to meet IOC in Feb. on joint Olympic bid

KAESONG/SEOUL, Dec 14, 2018, Joint Press Corps – Yonhap. South Korea and North Korea announced Friday they will meet with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) early next year to discuss their joint Olympic bid, reported the Yonhap.

The two sides reached that agreement during the latest round of their sports talks at the joint liaison office in the North Korean border city of Kaesong. South Korean Vice Sports Minister Roh Tae-kang and North Korean Vice Sports Minister Won Kil-u led the delegations.

The two sides said they will travel to Lausanne, Switzerland, on Feb. 15 next year and hold a three-way meeting with the IOC on their bid to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics.

The sports ministers from the two Koreas, Do Jong-hwan from Seoul and Kim Il-guk from Pyongyang, will head their respective delegations and will be joined by officials from their national Olympic committees. They will meet with IOC President Thomas Bach.

The Koreas first expressed their interest in sharing the 2032 Olympics after the Sept. 19 summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

No Olympic Games, summer or winter, have been shared by two countries.

Bach said at the time the IOC “welcomes very much” the intention of the two Koreas to jointly host the Olympics.

The Koreas are hoping to deliver a formal letter of intent to co-host the Olympics to the IOC in the near future.