S. Korea expects NK to accept Moon's offer for joint team for PyeongChang Olympics

By Yonhap

Published : June 26, 2017 - 11:45

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South Korea said Monday it is expecting North Korea to accept President Moon Jae-in's proposal that the two Koreas create a unified team for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics to be held next year.

Moon made the proposal at an opening ceremony for the World Taekwondo Championships held on Saturday.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with a North Korean Taekwondo player. (Yonhap)

"If the North accepts the president's offer, there will be many tasks to be done at the working level. We are expecting the North to (positively) respond to Moon's proposal," Lee Duk-haeng, spokesman at Seoul's unification ministry, told a regular press briefing.

The two Koreas fielded joint teams at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships and the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship.

Athletes from the rival Koreas also marched under a unified Korean flag at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and Asian Games several times, including at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics and the 2002 Busan Asian Games.

For a joint march in PyeongChang to materialize, North Korea must first qualify to compete in the Olympics to be held in February 2018. North Korea did not take part in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. (Yonhap)

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S. Korea expects NK to accept Moon's offer for joint team for PyeongChang Olympics

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