North and South Korea are to meet in the North Korean border city of Kaesong Wednesday to discuss forming a joint team for the Beijing 2008 Summer Games and the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.
Reuters reports that despite recent warming ties between Seoul and Pyongyang that have given some South Korean officials optimism ahead of the talks, athletes and coaches say the barriers blocking the formation of a unified team may be too high to clear.
Senior sports officials from the two Koreas agreed on November 1 to compete as a single sports team in Beijing and Doha.
South Korean officials are approaching the talks with the utmost caution. An official from South Korea’s Unification Ministry told Reuters, “there is no official agenda for the sports talks because we do not want to build up any expectations. This will be a new experience and a significant art of progress towards unification”.
According to Reuters a key quest for the talks will be whether the joint team will seek a fair balance of athletes from the North and South, or put together the most competitive team possible. South Korea has more world-class athletes than North Korea because of a larger population and better-funded sports associations.
Athletes from both Koreas joined together and marched under on flag, showing a united Korean peninsula in blue against a white background, at the 2000 Sydney Games and at the 2004 Athens Olympics. They then competed for their separate countries.
The anthem would probably by “Arirang”, a Korean folk song admired on both sides of the peninsula, said Reuters.
The International Olympic Committee has shown support for a joint Korean team in Beijing, but time is running short for selecting a joint team for the Asian Games in Doha.
