S. Korea accepts N. Korea's offer to march together at Asian Games

SEOUL, Nov. 22 Kyodo

South Korea has decided to accept a North Korean offer that athletes from the two Koreas march together at the opening and closing ceremonies of next month's Asian Games in Doha, Yonhap News Agency reported Wednesday.

The South Korean decision was made in response to the North's proposal made earlier this month, Yonhap said.

Mun Jae Duk, head of North Korea's Olympic Committee, made the proposal in a telephone message to Kim Jung Kil, head of the South Korean Olympic Committee, through the truce village of Panmunjom on Nov. 10.

In the message, the North also proposed to the South that the two Koreas hold talks in Doha during the Asian Games on fielding a unified team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

South Korea has also decided to send officials to Doha to conduct talks with the North Korean side, said Yonhap.

Yonhap said South Korea's decision to accept the North's proposals will be conveyed to the North on Thursday.

North and South Korean athletes have marched together in major international sports events since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The North Korean proposals were made despite the escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula following the North's nuclear test on Oct. 9.

''We have not found any reason to reject (the North's) nonpolitical proposals to promote (inter-Korean) exchange in sports,'' an unidentified Unification Ministry official was quoted by Yonhap as saying.

North Korea's first-ever nuclear test prompted the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution that requires member states to impose diplomatic and economic sanctions against the North.

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