N Korea supports S Korea's Winter Olympics bid

SEOUL: North Korea -- in an apparent attempt to ease tensions after its nuclear test -- has expressed full support for South Korea's bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, a senior official said on Tuesday.   

Governor Kim Jin-sun of Gangwon province said an agreement was signed when he met Mun Jae-Dok, president of the Olympic Committee of North Korea, and other top sporting officials in the communist state's capital last week.   

"The North side has expressed support for the South's bid to host the 2014 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, Gangwon province, and agreed to extend full cooperation," Kim said.   

The agreement would boost Pyeongchang's chances of winning the bid as a Winter Olympics in the eastern resort would "send a message of peace and reconciliation to the world," Kim said.   

"There have been some concerns that the nuclear test might have cast a cloud over our bid," he said of the October 9 test which sparked international shock and UN sanctions.   

Pyeongchang is vying with Salzburg in Austria and Russia's Black Sea town of Sochi.   

"However, these concerns will evaporate with this agreement with the North," Kim said.   

"With this agreement, North Korea apparently attempted to deliver a mesage to the world that it has no hostile intention despite its nuclear test."   

Kim said both sides believe that holding the Games in Gangwon province, whose territory is bisected by the demilitarised zone dividing the peninsula, would contribute to world peace.

He also said the two Koreas would consider fielding a unified team for the 2014 Winter Games if Pyeongchang is awarded them. They also agreed to consider holding a joint training session for the Games, said Kim, who visited North Korea from Wednesday to Sunday at the invitation of its authorities.   

Pyeongchang, 150 kilometres east of Seoul, was relatively unknown in 2003 when it lost a head-to-head battle with Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics. But confidence has been growing since it was shortlisted in June as one of the three candidate cities for 2014. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will send an evaluation team to Pyeongchang next February and a decision will be made in July.   

In another sign of sporting reconciliation, it was announced Monday that South and North Korean athletes will march together at the opening and closing ceremony for the Asian Games in Qatar next month.   

Work began last month in a Winter Olympics Complex in Pyeongchang with a budget of 1.3 billion dollars. It will house competition venues and other Olympic facilities such as a media village, an IOC hotel and other accommodation.