The South Korean government has officially approved the admittance of North Korean athletes as well as supporters to enter their nation in order to participate in this year’s Incheon Asian Games which South Korea will be hosting in September.
Eudo Kim, a spokesperson for Korea’s Ministry of Reunification has expressed that the administration has made this decision as a step to further globalize the Asian Games, as well as an attempt to improve political relations with DPRK. He added that there are still some issues that must be dealt with before the North Korean team of athletes and supporters enter South Korea.
For a while, the government has noted the possibility of having the athletes of both Koreas to enter together during the opening ceremonies, and even organizing a team of North-South joint supporters. There have been cases where the two Koreas organized North-South joint teams in the past, like the Table Tennis World Championship in the 1990s. However, Kim expressed that due to a lack of time before the tournament begins, these plans will not be taking place.
Kim expressed that the Ministry of Reunification will do everything it can during the Asian Games to bring the two Koreas closer. However, there are still so many areas where the two governments do not agree. For instance, a representative from the DPRK Labor Party stated that North Korea’s nuclear weapons are not an obstacle to either reunification or stability on the Korean peninsula. In fact, he stated that the weapons would, “guarantee peace and prosperity to the Korea people.”
North Korea has recently stirred unrest in East Asia after test firing a number of their newly developed Scud class ballistic missiles. Only last week, at the Korea-China Summit meeting, the leaders of the two nations promised cooperation in deterring North Korea’s nuclear program, while DPRK is moving to improve relations with Japan.
