North Korea appears to be specifying the lifting of sanctions imposed on the rogue state as a condition for the formation of a single, combined team repres
SEOUL – North Korea appears to be specifying the lifting of sanctions imposed on the rogue state as a condition for the formation of a single, combined team representing the two Koreas at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, local media reported Monday.
Commenting just two hours after South Korean President Moon Jae In proposed the single team on Saturday, North Korea’s sole member of the International Olympic Committee, Chang Ung, told a Channel A TV reporter that “politics lies above sports, according to the Dong a Ilbo newspaper.
“ (The) political environment should be addressed, ” added Chang, speaking in Muju, south of Seoul, after the opening ceremony there of the World Taekwondo Championships which were also attended by Moon. Chang was visiting South Korea in the company of the North Korean taekwondo exhibition team.
His remarks were interpreted as an effective rejection of Moon’s offer, and a suggestion that South Korea’s sanctions against the North “should be addressed first if sports exchanges such as formation of a single team can happen.”
It said that besides sanctions imposed on North Korea in recent years over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests, Pyongyang also seeks the lifting of those imposed on May 24,2010.
