Military tensions on the Korean peninsula should not prevent the nuclear-armed North sending a team to the 2018 Winter Olympics in the South, according to the head of the Games organising committee Lee Hee-Beom. The former diplomat and trade minister also said the heavily-fortified border between the two Koreas would be opened to allow any North Korean team to make a highly symbolic road crossing into the South.
Because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the two Koreas remain technically at war. Their common border is among the most militarised in the world, and land crossings are extremely rare. Typically, North Korean athletes competing in the South have flown in via Beijing.
"It would be very symbolic as it would be the first time in the name of sport that they come by road," said organising committee spokesperson Nancy Park. Pyongyang has yet to officially confirm whether it will send any athletes to the Winter Games, and a recent surge in tensions across the peninsula has done nothing to raise the hopes of those who would like to see it happen. Although he favours engagement with the North, newly-elected South Korean President Moon Jae-In warned just this week that there was a "high possibility" of military clashes between the two Koreas.
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