IOC considering joint Korean hockey team proposal

By Yonhap

Published : Jan. 14, 2018 - 11:44

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The International Olympic Committee is considering a proposal that South and North Korea form a joint women’s hockey team at next month’s PyeongChang Winter Games, the North’s IOC member Chang Ung said Saturday.

South Korea put forward the idea when it held high-level talks with the North on Tuesday. The North, even though it agreed to send an athletic delegation to PyeongChang for the Feb. 9-25 competition, hasn’t responded to the offer.

On Saturday, the North’s IOC member Chang said that the IOC is considering the proposal.

South and North Korean athletes pose together at the end of the 2017 world championship division group A match in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. (Yonhap)

“As the proposal has already been introduced, the IOC is considering it,” Chang told reporters at Beijing’s Capital International Airport on his way back to Pyongyang from a visit to the IOC in Switzerland when asked whether the joint team idea would materialize.

Chang added that it’s not a decision any one side can make and that the IOC and all other involved parties should discuss it.

Asked if the North is positively considering forming a joint team with the South, Chang said it is not a matter he is supposed to address.

(Yonhap)

Chang also said such an internal issue should be addressed by the North’s National Olympic Committee. He also refused to answer questions about the size of the North’s delegation to the PyeongChang Games, saying it is an issue that the North’s NOC should address.

While in Switzerland, Chang said he met with IOC President Thomas Bach every day.

“The IOC has already made public what we discussed, and there is nothing new,” Chang said. (Yonhap)

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IOC considering joint Korean hockey team proposal

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