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North Korea to participate in four sports at PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics

Photo:In figure skating, the pair of Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik appears to be the logical choice for the North. They qualified for an Olympic spot last September but missed an Oct. 30 deadline to confirm their participation.

2018/01/18 14:02

Lee Hee-beom, head of the organizing committee for PyeongChang 2018, said North Korea will send athletes in pair figure skating, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and women’s ice hockey.

Lee said the agreement was reached during working-level inter-Korean talks on Wednesday. But he declined to disclose the number of North Korean athletes as agreed on by the two sides because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will have the final say on the matter.

In this file Photo from Dec. 27, 2017, Lee Hee-beom, head of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics organizing committee, speaks during the opening ceremony of a promotional center for the games at KEB Hana Bank’s headquarters in Seoul. (Yonhap)

Lee left for the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, where IOC President Thomas Bach will chair a meeting Saturday on North Korea’s participation. The occasion is formally titled the “North and South Korean Olympic Participation Meeting,” and will include Lee, heads of the national Olympic committees for the two Koreas and IOC members from both nations.

“Basically, the IOC is the one that invites countries to the Olympics,” Lee told reporters at Incheon International Airport. “And the agreement between South and North Korea must follow the IOC’s standards.”

In figure skating, the pair of Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik appears to be the logical choice for the North. They qualified for an Olympic spot last September but missed an Oct. 30 deadline to confirm their participation. The International Skating Union (ISU) has noted that Ryom and Kim have “met all the necessary technical requirements” to skate in the Olympics.

Door Still Open to North Korean Figure Skaters to Compete in Winter Olympics

In women’s hockey, the Koreas have agreed on a joint team. The exact size of the roster will be determined at the upcoming IOC meeting, but the Korea Ice Hockey Association (KIHA) announced a 23-player roster, pending changes.

South Korea coach objects to proposed unified Korean team in women’s hockey

Earlier on Thursday, Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said in a lecture at a university that the two Koreas have agreed to add “five to six” North Korean players to the current South Korean team.

The Koreas have competed as one nation at the world table tennis championships and world under-20 football championships but never at the Olympics.

Also during Wednesday’s talks, the Koreas agreed to march together under the Korea Unification Flag at the opening ceremony on Feb. 9. It will be their 10th joint march at an international multi-sport competition and their first in 11 years.

The IOC will try to finalize protocols related to North Korea’s participation, such as the country’s flag, uniform and anthem.

Lee is part of a delegation that also includes Sports Minister Do Jong-hwan, Korean Sport & Olympic Committee President Lee Kee-heung and IOC member Ryu Seung-min.

Heinous war maniacs Bush & Obama will meet deaths on gibbet: North Korea Rhetoric Hasn’t Changed

New Stamps Issued to Commemorate Successful Test-fire of ICBM Hwasong-15

Bush and Obama Termed Top-Class War Criminals in 21st Century

Rodong News Team

2016.08.17

Ri Song Gun, a researcher at the Institute of American and African Studies under the DPRK Institute of International Studies, released an article titled “Departed souls of scaffold are calling Bush and Obama.”

The article referred to the recent opening of a report in the UK that the UK’s involvement in the U.S.-led Iraqi war in 2003 was unreasonable and illegal.

The article noted the claim ringing out among the political, media and other circles of Britain that Blair should make an apology for the UK’s involvement in the Iraqi war and be taken to international war criminal court.

The article said:

The prime minister of a country recklessly followed the U.S., talking about what he called “special relations” with it, contrary to the public mindset at home. So, he deserves an ill fame as a war criminal.

In the light of his sins, Blair can be called a war criminal that blindly followed others, whereas Bush, the chief architect of the Iraqi war, a top-class war criminal more hideous than Blair.

Obama, who caused such political mayhem and bloodshed like “Arab spring” and openly interfered in the internal affairs of Libya, Yemen, Syria and other sovereign states by force only to turn the “war on terrorism” into an endless one, far from making an apology for his predecessor’s massacre of more than one million of innocent peaceable citizens in Iraq only, is also a thrice-cursed top class war criminal putting Bush in the shade.

War criminals deserve merciless punishment.

The fate of Hitler, Mussolini and Tozyo who brought unheard-of disasters to humankind eloquently proves it.

The day when heinous war maniacs Bush and Obama will meet deaths on gibbet is not a long way off.

Departed soul of the fascist war criminals who plunged into the cesspool of history 70 odd years ago is calling Bush and Obama, top-class war criminals in the 21st century.

Tongue may bring calamity & miswritten pen may become a sword beheading oneself, North Korea Warns Media

Illustration courtesy Yonhap News.

Pyongyang, January 15 (KCNA) — Kim Chol Guk, department director of the Central Committee of the Journalists Union of Korea, issued a commentary titled “Misguided Media May Ruin Big Event” on Monday.
The conservative media of south Korea obsessed by the conception of confrontation with the fellow countrymen are misleading the public opinion, while describing the DPRK’s proposal and sincere efforts for north-south dialogue as “double-dealing tactics”. They even admonished the authorities to be vigilant against “the north’s trick to impair the south Korea-U.S. alliance”.

Even novices ignorant of the DPRK called the DPRK’s dispatch of a cheer group and artists’ group the one “aimed to use the Olympics as a promotion ground” and did not hesitate to say that north-south high-ranking talks are to “evade sanctions”.

Such despicable acts of the conservative media keen on finding out things accusing their fellow countrymen are a deliberate deed of chilling the atmosphere for improved north-south ties welcomed by the world, the commentary says, and goes on:

Because of the conservative media keen on reeling off all sorts of vituperation against the fellow countrymen even before the north-south relations make a good start to depart from their frozen state, the “peace Olympics” so much advertised by the south Korean authorities may turn into “confrontation Olympics”.

Tongue may bring calamity and miswritten pen may become a sword beheading oneself.

They should know that they may mess up the great event of the nation should they get on the nerves of the dialogue partner and wag their tongue and writing brush at will.

If the present situation turns into the freezing state which is not wished for by anyone, the blame will entirely rest with those who made fun of and went against the active proposal and efforts made by the DPRK for the improvement of the north-south ties.

The south Korean authorities may find the wedding ceremony turning into a mourning ceremony if they fail to hold tight control of media and of their own tongue.

World Media Praise Kim Jong Un as Ideal State Leader, NK State Media

This photo released by KCNA shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un addressing the Conference of Cell Chairpersons of the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang on Dec. 23, 2017.

Pyongyang, January 15 (KCNA) — Media of the United States and other countries have praised respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un‘s outstanding personality at a time when his historic New Year Address evokes a lively response worldwide.

Many media of the world are lavishing praises on him as a popular statesman with warm tenderness, the leader remarkably increasing the strength of the DPRK and the young leader who put the U.S. on the defensive through successive blows, despising it.

The U.S. internet news NK NEWS and magazine Newsweek said the New Year Address of Kim Jong Un was full of confidence and that he is respected and revered by the people.

The Indian paper Ocean News Point, the Iranian Ilna and other media praised him as the most ideal state leader in the present times with good character and qualifications, a popular statesman with noble benevolence and outlook on the people and a leader strong in faith, guts and independent stand.

The East Siberian Publishing House in Irkutsk Region, Russia in a special article posted on its internet homepage said he is the youngest state leader in the present world, adding:

The character of leader Kim Jong Un draws attention of the international community.

His quality is to do everything at a go and with a blitz.

His spirit “At a go” is not merely the youthful strength and enthusiasm and a graph of acceleration, but the spirit of brave charge–doing ten years’ work in one year, regardless of ready-made formulas and theories.

His spirit is the spirit of successive offensive, not remaining complacent with successes.

The DPRK, which has already emerged a politico-ideological power and military power, is advancing to be a sci-tech power, economic power, civilized power and sports power. From this the international community highly admires the spirit of successive offensive of leader Kim Jong Un.

He has super-powerful spirit jolting the world.

Patrioti Moskva, DPRK Today and other internet homepages of Russia and its internet magazine Lemchich said that the successes of great leap of the DPRK in the building of a powerful socialist country in 2017 proved that no force could block the Korean army and people advancing by dint of self-reliance and self-development, united close around Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

The Bangladeshi paper The Daily Folk said: The DPRK has already emerged a world-level military power equipped with latest strategic means and H-bomb. Promising is the future of the DPRK which will advance into the world arena as a richer and more powerful entity under the guidance of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

Witnessing the world-starling events in the DPRK and the situation of the Korean Peninsula in recent years, the world came to clearly know that the steady victories of the DPRK are ascribable to its great leader and believes that the DPRK will emerge victorious for all ages.

High is the spirit of the Korean people vigorously advancing toward fresh victories, rallied close around the great leader who is deeply revered by the whole world.

North Korea Threatens to Pull Out of Olympics Over Moon’s Remarks about Trump

President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visit South Korea (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

“They should know that train and bus carrying our delegation to the Olympics are still in Pyongyang.”

SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Yonhap) — North Korea on Sunday slammed President Moon Jae-in for his recent press conference remark that U.S. President Donald Trump has to be credited for helping open up inter-Korean talks. The North also threatened a withdrawal of its participation in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.

The response came four days after Moon’s New Year press conference where the president said the resumption of inter-Korean talks should largely be credited to Trump, indicating the U.S.’ hard sanctions may have brought the North to the negotiating table.

“At this time, ill-boding remarks chilling the atmosphere for reconciliation are heard from South Korea, upsetting the people,” the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in an English dispatch.

“He even made such rubbish that the North was led to dialogue to open up the chapter for ‘the North’s denuclearization,’ not for the improvement of the South-North relations,” the report said, referring to Moon’s praise of Trump’s role. “The present South Korean chief executive’s attitude casts doubt as to his intent to improve the North-South ties and build confidence.”

“We will as ever strive to improve the North-South ties but will never remain an onlooker to sordid acts of chilling the efforts,” the report also warned.

The article by the KCNA, the mouthpiece outlet for the North Korean regime, came while the two Koreas are in the process of arranging North Korea’s participation in the Olympics next month following their rare high-level talks held last week.

The KCNA also referred to Moon’s press conference remark that he can sit down for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if some conditions are met.

“Only when talks are held, can there be joint statement and joint press release and can there be an agreement both sides share. This is a common sense.” according to the KCNA report. “But the South Korean chief executive said that talks can be held only when results are expected.”

The North also indirectly threatened to roll back its decision to join the Olympics, saying that “They should know that train and bus carrying our delegation to the Olympics are still in Pyongyang.”

“The South Korean authorities had better ponder over what unfavorable results may be entailed by their impolite behavior.”

South Korea coach objects to proposed unified Korean team in women’s hockey

Update: 1.16.18

South Korea women’s hockey head coach Sarah Murray speaks to reporters at Incheon International Airport on Jan. 16, 2018. (Yonhap)

“I think there is damage to our players,” Murray told reporters at Incheon International Airport. “It’s hard because the players have earned their spots and they think they deserve to go to the Olympics. Then you have people being added later. It definitely affects our players.”

S. Korea hockey coach says ‘damage’ inevitable if N. Koreans are added for Olympics

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2018/01/16/0401000000AEN20180116010500315.html

JINCHEON, South Korea, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) — South Korea has proposed assembling a joint women’s hockey team with North Korea at the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics, a senior government official said Friday.

Vice Sports Minister Roh Tae-kang said putting together the unified Korean team was discussed during Tuesday’s inter-Korean meeting, along with a proposal for a joint parade into the opening ceremony at the Feb. 9-25 Olympics.

Roh made the comment while visiting Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, 90 kilometers of Seoul, for a new year kickoff meeting.

Roh was a member of the South Korean delegation at the meeting, after which North Korea agreed to send a delegation to PyeongChang 2018, the first Winter Olympics to be held in South Korea. The South’s proposal of a joint hockey team wasn’t immediately made public on Tuesday.

The North didn’t immediately respond to the joint march proposal. The two Koreas are likely to hold working-level talks next week to further discuss the issue before a Jan. 20 meeting to be chaired by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The IOC said the meeting will involve the PyeongChang Olympics organizing committee, leaders of the national Olympic bodies for the two Koreas and other high-ranking government officials. The meeting “will take a series of essential decisions,” including the number and names of North Korean athletes to participate in PyeongChang, and also issues related to flags, anthems, ceremonies and uniforms.

Seoul’s Sports Minister Do Jong-hwan first raised the possibility of one hockey team in June last year, though it was immediately met with criticism. Those who opposed the idea said it was unfair to take away roster spots from South Korean players to make room for North Koreans and risk disrupting team chemistry.

In this file photo taken April 6, 2017, members of the South Korean and North Korean women’s hockey teams — in white and red, respectively — join for pictures after their game during the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship Division II Group A tournament at Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. (Yonhap)

The Koreas fielded joint teams at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships and the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship. But they have never had a unified team in any sport at multi-sport competitions like the Olympics or the Asian Games.

Roh didn’t elaborate further on whether the North had agreed to form one hockey team. But he did say he is seeking cooperation from the IOC and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to add extra roster spots for the Korean team, which would keep the current South Korean team intact.

“Even if we have one Korean team in women’s hockey, we’ll make sure it will not come at the expense of South Korean players,” Roh said, adding that the IOC and the IIHF are currently seeking understanding from other participating nations.

The women’s hockey roster is set at 23. An official from the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) said South Korea is hoping to expand it to 35 players to accommodate North Koreans.

South Korea, ranked 22nd, will make its Olympic debut against No. 5 Sweden, No. 6 Switzerland and No. 9 Japan.

North Korea is ranked 25th. In April last year, South Korea, coached by former Canadian star Sarah Murray, defeated North Korea 3-0 at the IIHF Women’s World Championship Division II Group A tournament in Gangneung, the host city for all hockey games during PyeongChang 2018.

For the PyeongChang Olympics, North Korea doesn’t have any qualified athletes, and will need special wild-card spots granted by the IOC. In figure skating, the tandem of Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik could receive a spot. They qualified on merit last September but North Korea didn’t confirm their PyeongChang participation on time the following month.

In this file photo taken April 6, 2017, South Korean and North Korean women’s hockey players — in white and red, respectively — are in action during the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship Division II Group A tournament at Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. (Yonhap)

Three B-2 Spirit Bombers & 200 Airmen Deployed to Guam

Photo: A B-2 Spirit bomber flies across an open stretch of sky. The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions. (U.S. Air Force photo/Gary Ell)

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Approximately 200 #Airmen and three #B2 Spirits deployed to @AndersenAFBGuam to support @PacificCommand's Bomber Assurance and Deterrence mission. pic.twitter.com/Qufnu7gXh7

— PACAF (@PACAF) January 11, 2018

A 509th Bomb Wing crew chief waits to marshall a B-2 spirit to the @WhitemanAirForceBase runway Oct. 28, 2017. (U.S. Air Force Photo by A1C Taylor Phifer)

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B-2 Spirit Fact Sheet

Mission

The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions. A dramatic leap forward in technology, the bomber represents a major milestone in the U.S. bomber modernization program. The B-2 brings massive firepower to bear, in a short time, anywhere on the globe through previously impenetrable defenses.

Features

A B-2 Spirit lands at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, on Sunday, April 30, 2006. B-2s are replacing the B-1B Lancers at Andersen as part of the continuous bomber rotation. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Michael S. Dorus)

The B-2 provides the penetrating flexibility and effectiveness inherent in manned bombers. Its low-observable, or “stealth,” characteristics give it the unique ability to penetrate an enemy’s most sophisticated defenses and threaten its most valued, and heavily defended, targets. Its capability to penetrate air defenses and threaten effective retaliation provides a strong, effective deterrent and combat force well into the 21st century.

The revolutionary blending of low-observable technologies with high aerodynamic efficiency and large payload gives the B-2 important advantages over existing bombers. Its low-observability provides it greater freedom of action at high altitudes, thus increasing its range and a better field of view for the aircraft’s sensors. Its unrefueled range is approximately 6,000 nautical miles (9,600 kilometers.

FILE PHOTO — The B-2 Spirit approaches the boom of a McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey KC-10A Extender during a Capstone orientation flight. Capstone is a Joint Airborne/Air Transportability Training mission providing interservice training for the wartime application of airlift. Through Capstone, senior level officers are able to observe the significance of airlift and its role in all military operations. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Scott H. Spitzer)

The B-2’s low observability is derived from a combination of reduced infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual and radar signatures. These signatures make it difficult for the sophisticated defensive systems to detect, track and engage the B-2. Many aspects of the low-observability process remain classified; however, the B-2’s composite materials, special coatings and flying-wing design all contribute to its “stealthiness.

The B-2 has a crew of two pilots, a pilot in the left seat and mission commander in the right, compared to the B-1B’s crew of four and the B-52’s crew of five.

Background

The first B-2 was publicly displayed on Nov. 22, 1988, when it was rolled out of its hangar at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California. Its first flight was July 17, 1989. The B-2 Combined Test Force, Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, is responsible for flight testing the engineering, manufacturing and development aircraft on the B-2.

Whiteman AFB, Missouri, is the only operational base for the B-2. The first aircraft, Spirit of Missouri, was delivered Dec. 17, 1993. Depot maintenance responsibility for the B-2 is performed by Air Force contractor support and is managed at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB, Okla.

The combat effectiveness of the B-2 was proved in Operation Allied Force, where it was responsible for destroying 33 percent of all Serbian targets in the first eight weeks, by flying nonstop to Kosovo from its home base in Missouri and back. In support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the B-2 flew one of its longest missions to date from Whiteman to Afghanistan and back. The B-2 completed its first-ever combat deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, flying 22 sorties from a forward operating location as well as 27 sorties from Whiteman AFB and releasing more than 1.5 million pounds of munitions. The aircraft received full operational capability status in December 2003. On Feb. 1, 2009, the Air Force’s newest command, Air Force Global Strike Command, assumed responsibility for the B-2 from Air Combat Command.

OPERATION ALLIED FORCE — A B-2 Spirit bomber prepares to receive fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker during a mission in the European theater supporting NATO Operation Allied Force. The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions. A dramatic leap forward in technology, the bomber represents a major milestone in the U.S. bomber modernization program. The B-2 brings massive firepower to bear, in a short time, anywhere on the globe through previously impenetrable defenses. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Ken Bergmann)

General characteristics

Primary function: multi-role heavy bomber

Contractor: Northrop Grumman Corp. and Contractor Team: Boeing Military Airplanes Co., Hughes Radar Systems Group, General Electric Aircraft Engine Group and Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc.

Power plant: four General Electric F118-GE-100 engines

Thrust: 17,300 pounds each engine

Wingspan: 172 feet (52.12 meters)

Length: 69 feet (20.9 meters)

Height: 17 feet (5.1 meters)

Weight: 160,000 pounds (72,575 kilograms)

Maximum takeoff weight: 336,500 pounds (152,634 kilograms)

Fuel capacity: 167,000 pounds (75750 kilograms)

Payload: 40,000 pounds (18,144 kilograms)

Speed: high subsonic

Range: intercontinental

Ceiling: 50,000 feet (15,240 meters)

Armament: conventional or nuclear weapons

Crew: two pilots

Unit cost: Approximately $1.157 billion (fiscal 1998 constant dollars)

Initial operating capability: April 1997

Inventory: active force: 20 (1 test); ANG: 0; Reserve: 0

(Current as of December 2015)

North Korea now expected to send 400-500 people to PyeongChang Olympics

2018/01/10 15:51

On Tuesday, South and North Korea agreed, in their first high-level talks since 2015, that the North would send high-ranking officials, athletes, cheering and performing arts squads, taekwondo demonstration teams and journalists, to next month’s Winter Games.

“A massive delegation totaling between 400-500 people is expected to come,” Lee said during a meeting with companies sponsoring the PyeongChang Olympics, adding that the two Koreas will work out details of the delegation’s visit.

Lee said the PyeongChang Games should leave an important legacy, just as the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul did.

Taekwondo, Performing Artist, Cheering Squad: North Korea Offers Participation in Winter Olympics

“It will be difficult to say that the festival of mankind taking place in PyeongChang, just 100 kilometers from the Demilitarized Zone, will make no contribution to the human history,” Lee said. “It is bound to make contributions of a sort and leave traces.”

Lee said he hopes the PyeongChang Games will help reduce security risks on the Korean Peninsula.

“Just as the ’88 Olympics contributed to dismantling the Cold War, we earnestly hope that the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will improve the current state of the Korean Peninsula, which is in a grave security situation and … contribute to world peace by reducing security risks,” he said.

Taekwondo, Performing Artist, Cheering Squad: North Korea Offers Participation in Winter Olympics

A team of North Korean taekwondo athletes wave hands to audiences at the closing ceremony of the World Taekwondo Championships held in Muju, 240 kilometers south of Seoul, in this file photo taken on June 30, 2017. (Yonhap)

PANMUNJOM, Korea, Jan. 9 (Joint Press Corps-Yonhap) — North Korea on Tuesday offered to send a high-level delegation and performing arts squads to next month’s PyeongChang Winter Olympics, while the South proposed their athletes’ joint entrance to the games’ opening and closing ceremonies, Seoul officials said.

The two Koreas exchanged their proposals in the morning session of their first official talks in two years at the shared border village of Panmunjom to discuss the North’s participation in the Winter Games and ways to improve ties.

South Korea proposed the two sides march together during the opening and closing ceremonies and the North dispatch a cheering squad for the event.

The South also offered to hold a Red Cross meeting to discuss the reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War around the Lunar New Year’s holiday in February, Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung told a briefing.

In return, North Korea said that it will send a delegation of high-ranking officials and others, including performing and signing groups and taekwondo demonstration teams, on the occasion of the Winter Games, he added.

Taekwondo hoped to bring two Koreas together in PyeongChang

North Korea on Tuesday offered to send a taekwondo demonstration team, along with athletes and others to next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea, shedding light over a possible reconciliation between two Koreas through sports.

During the first official talks between two Koreas in more than two years, Pyongyang said it plans to send a delegation of athletes, cheering and performing art squads as well as its taekwondo demonstration team to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul.

The Games are scheduled for Feb. 9-25, with PyeongChang’s adjacent sub-host cities of Gangneung and Jeongseon hosting ice and alpine skiing events.

Whether North Korea will participate the first Winter Olympics on the Korean Peninsula had remained uncertain until Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong-un expressed his intention through a New Year’s speech.

If South Korea accepts the proposal and North Korea keeps its word, the taekwondo exchange is set to play a significant role in their reconciliation. The martial art is shared by both sides although they are still technically at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

North Korea currently leads the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) as the governing body of its style of taekwondo, which compares to the World Taekwondo (WT), a Seoul-based organization whose standard is accepted by the International Olympic Committee.

Despite the differences, taekwondo has been playing a key role in the relationship between the two Koreas.

Last June, the ITF also sent a demonstration team to the World Taekwondo Championships held in Muju, 240 kilometers south of Seoul, marking the first visit in 10 years and the first sports exchange between the Koreas after South Korean President Moon Jae-in took office in May.

Responding to North Korea’s latest offer, World Taekwondo President Choue Chung-won said his organization will make preparations to have the martial art lend its hands to the reconciliation of the Koreas.

Two Koreas kick off high-level talks on Winter Olympics, ties

PANMUNJOM, Korea, Jan. 9 (Joint Press Corps-Yonhap) — South and North Korea began their first formal talks in more than two years Tuesday to discuss the North’s potential participation in next month’s Winter Olympics and ways to improve their long-stalled ties.

The high-level talks started at 10:00 a.m. at the truce village of Panmunjom in the heavily fortified border area, according to Seoul’s unification ministry.

The meeting came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un extended a rare rapprochement to Seoul in his New Year’s Day message. He expressed a willingness to send a delegation to the PyeongChang Olympics and said the country is open for dialogue.

North Korea accepted Seoul’s dialogue offer Friday after the South and the United States agreed to postpone their military drills until after the Olympics. It also reopened a long-disconnected border hotline.

“I came here with hopes that the two Koreas hold talks with a sincere and faithful attitude to give precious results to the Korean people who harbor high expectations for this meeting, as the first new year present,” Ri Son-gwon, North Korea’s chief delegate, said at the start of the talks.

He is the chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, North Korea’s state agency handling affairs with the South.

“These talks started after long-frayed inter-Korean ties,” said Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, the South’s chief negotiator, in response. “Well begun is half done. I hope that (the two sides) could hold the talks with determination and persistence.”

This Photo, taken by the Joint Press Corps on Jan. 9, 2018, shows South Korea’s chief delegate Cho Myoung-gyon (L) shaking hands with his North Korean counterpart Ri Son-gwon before holding South and North Korea’s high-level talks. (Yonhap)

The meeting came as North Korea is under tough international sanctions over its nuclear and missile provocations. It conducted its sixth nuclear test and fired three intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) last year.

The government of liberal President Moon Jae-in has voiced the hope that the North’s participation in the games will help ease tensions on the divided peninsula that were sparked by the North’s provocations.

Moon also hopes that better inter-Korean relations will pave the way for the resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue and for broader dialogue between the United States and the North.

Though the two Koreas will focus on Olympic cooperation, they are also expected to discuss ways to improve long-stalled inter-Korean ties.

Possible agenda items with regard to the Olympics include whether the North’s delegation would travel by land or other routes and whether the two Koreas would march together under a unified Korean flag at the opening and closing ceremonies.

If the land route across the heavily guarded border is chosen, there should be consultation between the military authorities of the two Koreas.

If the North sends a cheering squad or a performing arts and singing team, both sides will also have to consult over details such as travel route, accommodation and security issues.

As to inter-Korean ties, Seoul is expected to highlight the urgency of easing military tensions and resolving the issue of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War by renewing its July peace proposal.

In July last year, the South proposed holding military talks on easing border tensions and holding a Red Cross meeting to discuss the reunion of divided families. North Korea has not responded to Seoul’s offer.

Asked if North Korea’s denuclearization issue could be discussed, Baik Tae-hyun, spokesman at Seoul’s unification ministry said Monday, “The Koreas plan to discuss Olympic cooperation and issues of mutual concern.”

North Korea may repeat its call for South Korea and the U.S. to halt their joint military drills, which Pyongyang has long denounced as a war rehearsal.

The North could also demand that the South lift its economic sanctions and resume inter-Korean economic projects in exchange for its participation in the Winter Games, experts say.

The South closed an inter-Korean industrial complex in the North’s border city of Kaesong in 2016 and suspended a joint tour program at Mount Kumgang in 2008.

Resumption of operations at the complex and of the tour project could spark a row over the possible violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at curbing the inflow of hard currency to the North.

“The high-level talks can be called a success if North Korea agrees to join the Games and the two sides set the date for a next meeting and identify each other’s stance over issues of mutual concern,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.