(ATR) Thomas Bach became the first IOC president to visit North Korea when he visited Pyongyang in late March and met with Kim Jong Un.
Bach’s visit came just weeks after the PyeongChang Winter Games, where North and South Korea marched together as one under the name of Korea and behind one Korean unification flag and formed a unified women’s ice hockey team with players from both countries. Efforts by the IOC, among others, brought the two countries closer both on and off the playing field.
Bach granted Newsweek an interview about his visit with Kim. In answer to the question about whether North Korea’s participation in PyepngChang was just a "charm offensive", Bach replied " The mission of the IOC and the Olympic Games is to bring the world together. This mission is even more important in times of political tensions and we are proud that we managed to bring the whole world together in one place for a peaceful competition."
Click here to read the Newsweek interview in its entirety.
Written by Gerard Farek
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