Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic organisers reject sharing events with North Korea

Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic officials have announced that the South Korean host city will not share Winter Olympic events with North Korea when it hosts the Games in three years time.

Earlier, Gangwon Province Governor Choi Moon-soon had raised the prospect of some of the snowboarding being held in North Korea.

However, Pyeongchang Olympic officials dismissed the suggestion with Kwak Young-jin, the Pyeongchang Organising Committee’s Vice President of Planning and Administration telling the Yonhap News Agency “with the construction for all competition venues already under way, we have already made it crystal clear that there is no point of discussing co-hosting of the Olympics.

 “We’re concerned that talks of co-hosting the Olympics at this stage will only have adverse effects on Pyeongchang’s Olympic preparations.”

Kwak said the Governor’s comments - which also suggested fielding a unified Korean team - were “inappropriate comments that disappointed the people of South Korea.

With both countries still officially at war with each other Governor Choi ‘s suggestions were based on ensuring that North Korea will take part in the Games.

Organisation of Pyeongchang 2018 is coming under increasing scrutiny with only three years until the start of the Games with doubts having been raised over how much money it has raised in sponsorship and its plans for the multi-million dollar venues after the Games.

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