President Moon Jae-in met with Dr. Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, at Cheong Wa Dae for half an hour from 9:30 this morning. After the one-on-one meeting, President Moon held an expanded meeting with an IOC delegation until 10:50.

During their one-on-one meeting, President Moon and Dr. Bach exchanged views on a variety of sports issues, including the participation in the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games by North Korea. President Moon said he was well aware of the fact that the North’s participation depended on a decision by the IOC. He went on to say that if the North was to join the Games, it would contribute not only to uplifting the Olympic spirit but also to promoting regional and world peace as well as harmony among all peoples.

The IOC President said that the meeting with President Moon reminded him of his meeting with President Kim Dae-jung in 1998. Recalling the meeting in which the issue of North Korea’s participation in the Sydney Olympics was discussed back then, Dr. Bach said he remembered President Kim summing up the situation with one remark, “If North Korea agrees, I will agree to everything.” He continued to explain that he had worked to persuade the North with President Kim’s statement and had finally achieved the outcomes of the North’s participation in the Sydney Games and the athletes of two Koreas marching together at the opening ceremony, contributing in the end to the success of the Sydney Olympics.

Dr. Bach also said that, from that perspective, he actively supported President Moon’s policy of promoting inter-Korean reconciliation and peace on the Korean Peninsula, highlighting it as a way to live up to the Olympic spirit.

In the meeting with the IOC delegation that followed, President Moon told the participants about Dr. Bach’s promise of helping as much as possible at the IOC level to enable North Korean athletes to participate in the PyeongChang Winter Games. In regard to the World Taekwondo Championships recently held in Muju, the IOC President said he wanted to praise the World Taekwondo Federation. He continued to express the belief that dialogue between the two Koreas would be possible thanks to such efforts. He further explained that the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games and the Korean Sports & Olympic Committee were working closely together. He continued to say that President Moon’s visit to PyeongChang after the G20 Summit would be of immense help in promoting the Olympic Winter Games there.

In reply, President Moon said that, even though preparations for the Winter Olympics were going smoothly, he was worried about the lack of an Olympics boom at the moment. The President went on to say that it was only natural for the new Administration to provide support to guarantee the success of the first mega international sporting event after its launch. The President next made a pledge to continue efforts to create a boom for the event, requesting the IOC`s cooperation to this end. The President went on to say that the North`s participation itself would be of help in generating the boom and making the event a success. In this connection, the IOC President said that not only the publicity for the event in Korea but international publicity was very important. Noting that China and Japan showed interest in hosting the next Winter Olympics, he gave a piece of advice saying that cooperation with these two nations would help make them good partners for the publicity of the event.

President Moon said that it has now become possible to enhance inter-Korean sports cooperation since he had secured through the ROK-U.S. summit this time the backing for South Korea`s leading role in establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula and for the resumption of dialogue with the North in areas other than humanitarian assistance. Noting that the IOC vowed to help open the door for North Korean athletes to join the Games, President Moon asked the PyeongChang Organizing Committee and Gangwon Province to make all possible efforts to this end. The President went on to say that he would also seek China`s cooperation for the North`s participation at a meeting with President Xi Jinping.

In addition, President Moon asked about the possibility of increasing the number of Korean IOC members from two to three in consideration of Korea’s increasing contributions to international sports. Another question of the President was about whether there was a way to encourage the North to join the Winter Olympics by adopting a resolution at the IOC level.

Finally, President Moon expressed the hope that the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games would become the Olympics of peace that could help heal the wounds of the Korean people who were suffering from the division, in addition to mentioning the success of the Games in and of themselves. Sharing a mutual understanding with the IOC that North Korea’s participation would be desirable for the Olympics’ success, the President suggested that they work together for the success of the PyeongChang Olympics. The President added that the Korean Government would make every effort to that end.

In response, Dr. Bach said, as a German, he well understood the pain of living in a divided country, adding that he personally supported President Moon’s efforts for reconciliation and peace on the Korean Peninsula and that the IOC would become a solid partner in that effort. Then, the IOC President expressed his gratitude to President Moon for seeking policies of peace and reconciliation. Noting that conditions for the Korea-United States summit had not been easy, the IOC President said there was a saying in sports that a hard-won victory was the most precious and congratulated President Moon once again on the success of the summit.

Mentioning that he wanted to give President Moon an emblematic gift, Dr. Bach presented a medal that had been personally designed by the founder of the IOC. The IOC President went on to say that the medal had been presented to heads of state or government but after the death of the founder, the tradition disappeared until it was revived recently. The IOC President continued to say that he had presented the medal to President Donald Trump only 10 days ago and it was the second medal given to a U.S. President, adding that he was delighted to present the symbolic medal to President Moon who just came back from the summit. Handing over the medal, the IOC President said he wanted President Moon to think of it as a gold medal for the PyeongChang Olympics.

Present at the meeting besides IOC President Bach were IOC Coordination Commission Chair Gunilla Lindberg; IOC Director of Communications Mark Adams; Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Do Jong-hwan; President of the PyeongChang Organizing Committee Lee Hee-beom; Gangwon-do Provincial Governor Choi Moon-soon; Korean Sport & Olympic Committee Lee Kee-Heung; World Taekwondo Federation President Choue Chung-won; Korean lawmaker Ahn Min-seok and member of the IOC Athletes` Commission Ryu Seung-min, among others.