North and South Korea make progress on joint Olympic team: IOC

AFP, December, 2006

GENEVA (AFP) — North Korea and South Korea have made major progress on the way to creating a unified team for the 2008 Games in Beijing, the International Olympic Committee said. The two countries agreed following talks during the Asian Games this month to tackle the key technical issues of setting up a joint team, including qualifying process for athletes and team sports, IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said.

"They are making progress on qualification, which is a big step forward," she told AFP. "This is the most difficult and complicated part of the whole process." The IOC said in a statement that the two Koreas had made "significant progress" since they approached each other about a joint team in 2004 and especially since they met at Olympic headquarters in September...