IOC approves joint ice hockey team
By Kang Hyun-kyung
The International Olympic Committee approved Saturday that the two Koreas field a joint women’s ice hockey team during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics next month.
During the talks at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, IOC President Thomas Bach said North Korea will compete in five sports, including ice hockey and figure skating.
The roster for the joint ice hockey team expanded to 35 from 23 members. According to the plan, 23 South Korean players and 12 North Korean players are to join the hockey team.
North Korea will also compete in alpine skiing and cross-country.
In the meeting presided over by Bach, sports ministers of the two Koreas, PyeongChang Olympics organizers, the heads of the South and North Korean national Olympic committees and their IOC members discussed the details of the agreement reached by the two Koreas on Wednesday.
Under the agreement, the two Koreas are to field a joint women’s ice hockey team and march together under the unification flag in the Feb. 9 opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in the eastern mountainous county of PyeongChang.
After arriving at IOC headquarters for the talks, Bach stressed the role of sports in building peace. “Here we are talking about sport and the Olympic Games, and this shows that sport can always build bridges and be a stage for dialogue,” he was quoted by the Associated Press.
Before the meeting, South Korean Sports Minister Do Jong-hwan said the PyeongChang Olympics would be a historic, and maybe the most memorable one in Olympic history in that the first-ever unified Olympic team is to compete and the two Koreas are to march together under the unification flag.
North Korean Sports Minister Kim Il-guk said he hopes (the two Koreas) can achieve remarkable accomplishments during the Winter Olympics.
Earlier IOC presidential spokesman Mark Adams was quoted by The Associated Press as saying there would be some major announcements at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. “Watch this space,” he said. “I can tell you there will also be more exciting initiatives coming to the games as well (on Saturday).