North and South Korea agree plans for joint Olympic bid
North and South Korea will seek to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympic Games after a planned bid was agreed by the neighbors’ respective leaders, Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in, it was confirmed on Wednesday.
The step was announced at a news conference in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, as part of high-level discussions between northern leader Kim and his southern counterpart, Moon.
READ MORE: South Korea to propose joint 2032 Olympics bid with North
While no details of the plan were given, South Korean officials have previously said that the bid would involve the countries’ respective capitals, Seoul and Pyongyang, serving as the host venues.
Seoul has hosted the Summer Games once before, in 1988, and South Korea also hosted the Winter Games in PyeongChang earlier this year.
The Winter Games became part of a significant thawing in relations on the peninsula. Korean athletes marched under a unified flag at the opening ceremony, and the two nations fielded a joint women’s ice hockey team.
The destinations of the next three editions of the Summer Games have already been determined, with Tokyo hosting in 2020, followed by Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028.
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Other countries weighing up bids for the 2032 Games include Germany, Australia and India. Russia’s sports minister also recently said that the country could consider bidding, although no specific plans had been made for this.
