South Korea President Moon Jae-in said on Saturday that he "hopes to see North Korean athletes at next year's Winter Olympics in South Korea to ease tensions over the North's nuclear program," according to the AP. Moon made the comments during the opening ceremony of the World Taekwondo Championships. The championships, which will feature a performance by the North Korean taekwondo demonstration team, "mark the first sports exchange between the Koreas since the liberal Moon took office in May." Moon expressed a desire to use the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics to "reach out to North Korea" (AP, 6/24). The AFP reported Moon is "known to favour engagement with the North to bring it to the negotiating table in a break from his conservative predecessors who took a hardline stance." Moon said, "I believe in the strength of sports that has been brokering peace. If a North Korean delegation takes part in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, I believe it will greatly contribute to realizing the Olympic values of friendship and peace." Moon also suggested the two countries "pool their athletes to form joint teams for the games to achieve better performances" (AFP, 6/24). The KOREA HERALD's Shin & Jung reported with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "having promoted sports at home as an avid fan himself," the PyeongChang Olympics "could mean a chance for the nascent leadership to engage the regime with relatively less political burden," analysts said. Yonsei University political science and int'l studies professor Choi Jong-kun said, "If we could manage to perk up the mood through the Olympics and then expand interactions, we will be able to send a meaningful signal about our intention" (KOREA HERALD, 6/25).
MONITORING TENSIONS: REUTERS' Liana B. Baker reported NBC is "monitoring the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and so far does not expect to change its plans to send a more than 2,000-person workforce to the Winter Games in South Korea," NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel said on Thursday. Zenkel: "There are obviously geopolitical issues. I don't think there's an Olympics or any global sporting event without them. We're all aware of the issues facing that particular location and we're playing close attention and staying in touch with the different organizations and the experts we have access to." He added that the network "gets information from the U.S. State Department" (REUTERS, 6/23).
