By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
Korean Olympic Committee President Lee Yeon-taek said Friday that he still has hope that the two Koreas will march together at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Summer Olympics.
``I will strive to get them marching together,'' Lee said before leaving for China with South Korea's main 56-member Olympic delegation at Incheon International Airport in the morning.
The team comprised 25 athletes from weightlifting, gymnastics, cycling and rowing and 31 officials.
Since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the two Koreas have marched together in eight international competitions, including the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2006 Doha Asiad.
Bilateral ties, however, have been worsening since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in South Korea in February.
Worse, the North rejected a letter last month from the South Korean Olympic committee on discussing the joint march with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge's support.
Lee said, ``We are in a tough situation now, but I will discuss it with the IOC and our Olympic organizing committee. I hope for a chance to talk with the North.''
South Korea's team leader Kim Jung-haeng said, ``We haven't talked with the North so there is a low possibility (of a joint march). But it could be dramatically settled there.''
Agreeing to joint marches has not always been smooth. The two Koreas reached an agreement roughly a week before the 2006 Asiad, while they did so a month ahead of the Athens Games four years ago.