18일, 평화의집에서 남북체육회담 열려
Inter-Korean discussions have been ongoing since this morning at the border.
This comes right after the two sides held their first general-level military talks of this decade.
We go to our Park Hee-jun,... who's been following the process since the preparation stages.
Hee-jun, I understand cooperation in sports was the central topic.
Daniel,... today's discussions are largely focused on sports exchanges between the two Koreas.
The talks began at around 10 AM,... at the Peace House, the South Korean building located in the truce village of Panmunjom
The key agendas include: joint participation by the two Koreas at the 2018 Asian Games and holding inter-Korean basketball matches.
South Korea initially suggested forming joint teams for canoeing and rowing at the Asian Games,... but North Korea is known to want to do that in more events,... so the two sides could be talking about how many and which ones.
Also on the table... is whether they will march under the Korean Unification Flag, like they did during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
And it's a widely known fact that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is a huge basketball fan.
In his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Kim proposed holding inter-Korean basketball matches.
So that should be on the table as well.
The talks are part of ongoing efforts by the two Koreas to implement the Panmunjom Declaration from the April 27th inter-Korean summit.
And because the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics is widely seen as the impetus that led to the recent peace talks,... the two Koreas will be keen to carry on the momentum of sports cooperation to strengthen their ties.
Here's what the head of the South Korean delegation had to say before he left for the border:
"As we saw from the PyeongChang Winter Olympics,... sports have played a crucial role in bringing North Korea back to inter-Korean dialogue. We'll try our best to make sports an important driving force in future inter-Korean relations,... and to implement the Panmunjom Declaration."
We're still waiting to hear about the outcomes of these talks, but we're expecting a briefing to take place anytime now -- I'll make sure to bring updates on that later.
Back to you.
