IOC Chief Holds Talks in North Korea; Kim Jong Un Meeting?

(ATR) Thomas Bach arrives in North Korea for a two-day visit – with speculation intensifying that he will meet with its leader Kim Jong Un.

The IOC delegation started its work in Pyongyang today and will leave on Saturday morning.

Speaking to reporters at Beijing International Airport, en route to the North Korean capital, Bach declined to say whether he would hold talks with Kim, according to Yonhap news agency. North Korea's leader surprised many by traveling to Beijing earlier this week for a summit with Chinese president Xi Jinping.

Bach’s visit follows an invitation from the country’s NOC during the discussions with North and South Korean leaders on Jan. 20 aimed at bringing the two Koreas together at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

The agreement resulted in the two Koreas joining together to march under a unification flag in the athletes parade at the Feb. 9 Olympic opening ceremony. North Korea sent 22 athletes to compete at the Winter Games. The deal also led to the formation of a unified women’s ice hockey team including players from the two NOCs. Bach said it "sent a message of peace from the Korean Peninsula to the world".

The IOC’s discussions with North Korean NOC chiefs and government officials will focus on the development of sport in the reclusive nation and the preparation of athletes for the Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 Olympics.

The Olympic governing body gave no further details of who is in its delegation or who they would be meeting on the North Korean visit. Pere Miro, the IOC’s deputy director general for relations with the Olympic Movement, is on the trip;IOC member in North Korea Ung Chang is sure to be involved.

Last week, Bach hailed the developments between North and South Korea resulting from the PyeongChang Olympics, which included plans for talks between North and South.

"I think this is a major step, because only when you sit together, then you can come to solutions. I think we can say that with the initiatives that the IOC took, we have opened the door for this," Bach told told Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun. "It is our mission to make the world a better place through sports, and we can say so far, mission accomplished, by opening this window of opportunity for the political world."

On Thursday, North and South Korea governments announced they will hold their first summit in more than a decade on April 27. Kim Jong Un will meet South Korean president Moon-Jae-in in the border village of Panmunjom. It comes ahead of Kim’s expected meeting with U.S. president Donald Trump in May.

Reported by Mark Bisson

25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.