North and South Korean teams entered the stadium together under a single flag during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at the Asian Winter Games and both teams are discussing the possibility of marching together at the Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony as well as organizing a united team if PyeongChang wins the 2014 Winter Olympic bid.
At the 2007 Torino Winter Universiade, which ended late January, Korea was ranked number one for the first time. Lee Kang Suk, who participated in both Games winning the gold medal in the 500-metre speed skating event said, “we wanted to ensure some good results to support PyeongChang’s bid for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games as we all would love PyeongChang to win the bid”.
He added, “it was really touching to enter together with the North Korean athletes at the Opening Ceremony (at the Asian Winter Games). I sincerely hope that the North-South Korean athletes could participate in the 2014 Games together if PyeongChang won the bid”.
Kim Jin-sun, Governor of Gangwon province said, “PyeongChang is fast becoming the Asian hub of winter sports and we intend to contribute to the further expansion of winter sports all over Asia and beyond through hosting the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang. We also believe it could help bring people together and ease tension on the Korean peninsula”.
Meanwhile the 2007 PyeongChang InterSki Congress successfully ended February 2 with participants from 31 countries and 1500 staff, including ski trainers and demonstrators, at the seven-day event, which was held at the Yongpyong Resort in PyeongChang.
Erich Memier, Commissioner of InterSki International, called the event the best prepared during his 35 years with InterSki. He added, “PyeongChang is more than suitable and already has the competence as a bidding city for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. The facilities surrounding the Yongpyong Resort are well prepared and very convenient in terms of distance as well as the new Alpensia, which is currently under construction”.
Kim said, “this event has given us a very positive opportunity to promote PyeongChang to skiers around the world. We have shown through this InterSki Congress that PyeongChang is capable of hosting major international events to the highest standards”.
