The Olympics torch for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games "may be the first of its kind to cross the inter-Korean border to reach North Korea's capital or Mount Kumkang," a source familiar with the Games' ongoing preparations said, according to Jung Min-kyung of the KOREA HERALD. The source added, "There have been consistent talks within the International Olympics Committee meetings here to send the torch to Mount Kumkang or Pyongyang during the final stages of the relay in Gangwon Province -- with distance and time in consideration." The insider "based the time frame on the theory the torch would travel by foot and boat." The prospects of a North Korean leg of the torch relay "look slim," however. The source stressed that "reviving frozen inter-Korean dialogue was a prerequisite of the collaboration." The source also revealed North Korea's recent series of intercontinental ballistic missile liftoffs have "posed as obstacles" and the committee has not yet officially informed South Korea's Ministry of Unification of the plan (KOREA HERALD, 8/7).
