Gwangju Mayor Kang Wun-tae said Monday the South Korean host city of the 2015 World University Games will hold contact with North Korea to talk about forming joint teams between the two Koreas.
Gwangju hopes to see the two Koreas form unified teams in some events at the international collegiate athletic competition, better known as the Universiade.
Earlier this month, the city's Universiade organizing committee signed an agreement with the U.N. Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) under which the U.N. body promised to cooperate with efforts to put together unified Korean teams.
The deal also calls for Wilfried Lemke, the special U.N. adviser on sport for development and peace, to play the role of a mediator between the two Koreas.
"We will hold contact with North Korea at an appropriate time," Mayor Kang said during a news conference announcing the results of his European trip aimed at attracting foreign investment in the southern South Korean city, some 260 kilometers south of Seoul.
Kang did not provide further specifics, including when such contact will be made.
During the trip to Europe, Kang said he was able to confirm "indirectly" that North Korea is aware that the South wants to form unified teams for the Universiade, though he did not meet with North Korean officials. The mayor did not elaborate.
Lemke, the special U.N. adviser on sport, plans to visit Pyongyang this year, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also promised support for the unified team initiative, Kang said.
Kang plans to discuss the issue with Ban when the U.N. chief visits South Korea to attend the closing ceremony of the Yeosu Expo next month.
The two Koreas have competed as a single nation at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships and also at the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship. But they have never competed as one or have formed unified teams for events at the Olympics, Asian Games or Universiades.
They have marched together at opening ceremonies, though not since the 2007 Asian Winter Games in Changchun, China.
The Koreas remain technically at war, since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)