“We will be as flexible as we can be,” an IOC spokesman told AFP over North Korea sending a team to the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea. On Tuesday North and South Korea will hold their first official dialogue in more than two years to discuss the North’s participation at the 2018 Games in the truce village of Panmunjom. IOC president Thomas Bach is due to meet Chang Ung, a member of the North Korean Olympic body, at IOC headquarters in Lausanne later this week. The tentative rapprochement comes after the North’s leader Kim Jong-Un warned in his New Year speech that he had a nuclear button on his desk, but also said Pyongyang could send a team to the Olympics. “We welcome the discussion which will take place … between the governments of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” the IOC said. “The IOC has been having discussions with both sides for a long time. “In doing so we have kept the door open by extending the deadline for registration, and by offering support to North Korean athletes in the qualification process, whilst always respecting United Nations sanctions.” On Saturday, Chang said the isolated state was “likely to participate” in the Pyeongchang Games from Feb 9-25, Kyodo news agency reported. Two North Korean athletes – pairs figure skaters Ryom Tae-Ok and Kim Ju-Sik – qualified for the Games but Pyongyang’s Olympic Committee missed an Oct 30 deadline to confirm to the International Skating Union that they… [Read full story]
Beijing was chosen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the 2022 Winter Olympics on Friday, becoming the first city to be awarded both the summer and winter Games. The Chinese capital beat Kazakhstan's Almaty in a secret ballot of 85 IOC members held at a convention center in downtown Kuala Lumpur. The ballot was conducted twice, first electronically and then by paper after it was discovered the electronic system had malfunctioned. The IOC said Beijing won a surprisingly close vote, 44-40, with one abstention. "Just as with the Beijing 2008 Summer Games, the Olympic Family has put its…... [read more]
North Korea reopened a long-closed border hotline with South Korea on Wednesday, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to mock the North's leader by saying he has a "bigger and more powerful" nuclear button than he does. The North's decision to open the border phone line came a day after South Korea proposed high-level discussions amid a tense standoff over North Korea's missile and nuclear programmes. That followed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's New Year address in which he said he was open to speaking with the South and would consider sending a delegation to the Winter Olympics…... [read more]
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, warned North Korea on Tuesday against staging another missile test and said Washington would not take any talks between North and South Korea seriously if they did not do something to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons. Haley told reporters the United States was hearing reports that North Korea might be preparing to fire another missile. "I hope that doesn't happen. But if it does, we must bring even tougher measures to bear against the North Korean regime," Haley said. South Korea on Tuesday offered talks with North Korea…... [read more]
Two U.S. B-1B heavy bombers joined large-scale combat drills over South Korea on Thursday amid warnings from North Korea that the exercises and U.S. threats have made the outbreak of war "an established fact." The annual U.S.-South Korean "Vigilant Ace" exercises feature 230 aircraft, including some of the most advanced U.S. stealth warplanes, and come a week after North Korea tested its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to date, which it says can reach all of the United States. North Korea's foreign ministry blamed the drills and "confrontational warmongering" by U.S. officials for making war inevitable. "The remaining question…... [read more]
Documents seen by Reuters said the 10 vessels had been conducting ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum products to North Korean vessels or transporting North Korean coal in violation of U.N. sanctions imposed over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. The ships would be blacklisted - meaning countries would be required to ban them from entering their ports - if none of the 15 members of the Security Council’s North Korea sanctions committee object by Thursday afternoon. North Korea is under a U.N. arms embargo and the Security Council has banned trade in exports such as coal, textiles, seafood, iron and other…... [read more]
