IOC Chief Talks 2032 Olympics with South Korean President

(ATR) Thomas Bach met Moon Jae-in to discuss plans for a joint Olympic bid with North Korea.

The pair held talks on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York.

An IOC statement said President Moon told Bach that recent peace developments on the Korean peninsula were only possible because of the participation of North Korea at the PyeongChang 2018 Games. He praised the role of the IOC in facilitating the development.

"The world may not realize this yet, but President Bach and the IOC deserve a lot of credit for surprising changes of late by helping North Korea participate in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics," Moon was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

The Koreas marched together under a unification flag in the athletes parade at the PyeongChang 2018 opening ceremony. An agreement between the nations also led to the formation of a unified women’s ice hockey team with players from the two NOCs.

Moon also told Bach that at last week’s Pyongyang summit during discussions with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader "had expressed the same view". The two leaders announced plans to submit a joint bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics "and to also start a dialogue on this as soon as possible", the IOC statement said.

Bach said at the time he welcomed "very much the intention" of a joint Korean 2032 bid.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Bach told the South Korean president the IOC was now working with the two Korean NOCs to pave the way for the participation of joint teams at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

After this meeting, Moon later addressed the UN general assembly and restated how the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics had aided unity and peace on the peninsula.

"The world was awakened to the sense of new history of peace being written," he told delegates, according to his speech published in full by the Korea Times.

"The participation of North Korea's athletes and delegation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics provided a decisive momentum to break the impasse in building peace."

On April 20, North Korea officially ended its policy of nuclear development and has since devoted all of its efforts towards economic development, he added, praising North Korean leader Kim for his Sept. 9 "commitment to peace and prosperity instead of boasting its nuclear capabilities".

Reported by Mark Bisson

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