North, South Korea to pursue Olympic bid

North and South Korea have agreed to pursue a possible joint bid to host the 2032 summer Olympic Games.

A statement yesterday (Wednesday) revealed the news, which followed a summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-In and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

South Korea has staged the summer Games once before, when Seoul hosted the event in 1988. The country’s Pyeongchang region also hosted the winter Olympics earlier this year.

With a reported capacity of 150,000, North Korea’s May Day Stadium is among the biggest in the world. The leaders of North and South Korea addressed spectators at the stadium yesterday.

Relations between North and South Korea have improved recently and the two nations walked under a unified flag at Pyeongchang 2018.

So far, India, Australia, China and Indonesia have expressed an interest in hosting the 2032 Olympics. It is the next edition of the summer Games that is available to bid for, with Tokyo due to host in 2020, Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028.

The Chinese capital of Beijing is also due to host the 2022 winter Olympics, which will mark the third successive Games in Asia after Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020.

Image: Korea.net