PyeongChang Olympics Face Politics of Peace

(ATR) The president of Korea is backing last-minute proposals for the 2018 Winter Olympics as a way to drive peace between North and South Koreas.

Elected in May, left-leaning Jae In Moon is pushing policies that would increase contact with North Korea. With the first Winter Games on the Korean Peninsula just over six months away, proposals have been floated to hold some ski events in North Korea and to merge the women’s hockey teams from North and South into one squad.

The latter proposal is loaded with issues, explained in this article in the Korean news service Yonhap.

Newly named sports minister Jong Hwan Do made his first visit to PyeongChang this week, a week after his appointment by President Moon. In this article in Chosun Ilbo, Do mentions the possibility of using a new North Korean resort to hold some ski events.

The two proposals, coming so soon before the 2018 Olympics, will be difficult to implement for diplomatic, logistic and security issues. Next week IOC President Thomas Bach travels to Korea where he will meet with President Moon on July 1. Bach, while backing the notion of using sport to ease tensions in Korea, is not expected to support venues in North Korea at this late date.

Bach, meanwhile, will be cosseted upon his arrival June 28 by the World Taekwondo Federation, which has invited Bach to attend the 2017 world championships in Muju. WTF president Chungwon Choue is eager to make a good impression as he is said to be eager to win a nomination for a seat on the IOC.

Arriving in time for the opening of the championships this weekend are eight IOC members including Aicha Garad Ali of Djibouti, Ivan Dibos of Peru, Camiel Eurlings from the Netherlands, Seung Min Ryu of South Korea, Tsunekazu Takeda from Japan, C.K. Wu from Chinese Taipei and Zaiqing Yu of China.

IOC member in North Korea Ung Chang will attend with a delegation from the rival International Taekwon-Do Federation, backed by the North Korean government.

Written by Ed Hula.

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