South and North Korea
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 North Korean
Olympic Committee (NKOC), and NKOC 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 and North Korea 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.
News from TheKorea Tomes
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