IOC President to convene "North and South Korean Olympic Participation Meeting"

The IOC President, Thomas Bach, today called for a meeting to decide on the participation of athletes from the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.  It follows the joint proposals (yesterday) by the governments of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

In order to decide on the proposals, the IOC will convene a four-party meeting on Saturday 20 January 2018 at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.  The participants will be a delegation from the PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee and delegations from the NOCs of the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, all led by their respective presidents, as well as high-ranking government officials and the IOC Members in both countries.  The meeting will be chaired by the IOC President.

The meeting will have to take a series of essential decisions, including the number and names of athletes and officials from the NOC of the DPRK, since all the deadlines for registration have already passed. The IOC will also have to decide on the format of such participation, including questions related to the official protocol (flag, anthem, ceremonies, uniform, etc.).

“I warmly welcome the joint proposals by the governments of the ROK and DPRK, which have been applauded by so many other governments worldwide. This is a great step forward in the Olympic spirit and in the spirit of the Olympic Truce Resolution passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Now the IOC must take the decisions to make this political commitment a reality,” said the IOC President.

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