From Reuters:
Two Koreas to compete as one by 2014 Games
10/2/2006
North and South Korea are expected to compete as a joint team by the 2014 Winter Olympics, a top official of the South Korean city that is bidding for the games said on Monday.
The two Koreas have long tried to put together a unified team for the Olympics and have been in talks to form one for the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, but those discussions have been marred by political and other problems.
“We are planning on having a joint team by the time of the 2014 Games,” said Bahng Jae-heung, secretary-general of the Pyeongchang bid committee.
“At this time, we are taking it for granted that there will be a joint team,” he told Reuters in the Pyeongchang mountain resort.
In September, the International Olympic Committee brought officials from the team Koreas together in Switzerland to help get their talks back on track for forming a joint team.
North Korea had suspended several cooperation projects with the South, including discussions on a joint Olympic team, in anger over Seoul’s decision to suspend regular food aid after the North defied international warnings and test-fired seven missiles in July.
Bahng said the Pyeongchang bid committee does not expect to co-host events with the North if the rustic mountain town about 200 km (120 miles) east of Seoul wins the Games because of Olympic rules and the distance to the North.
North and South Korea agreed to send a combined team to the Beijing games in November 2005, but have since failed to overcome differences about how it should be selected.
Pyongyang wants equal representation of athletes from the North and South, while Seoul says selection should be on merit to create the most competitive team possible.
South Korea has a larger population and better funded sport associations than its northern neighbour.
Still technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace treaty, North and South Korea first considered competing as a joint team at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, but years of acrimony and military tensions have prevented the idea from coming to pass.
North and South Korea have marched together at past Olympics, including this year’s Winter Games in Turin, but competed as separate teams.
