IOC executive board member Thomas Bach of Germany will hold talks until September 21 with North Korea's National Olympic Committee (NOC) in Pyongyang.
Bach said at an IOC meeting in Seoul on Wednesday the trip had been planned for some time under the framework of the Olympic Solidarity movement. But the idea to talk with the North about inter-Korean sports exchanges was a recent one, urged by IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch.
"Mr Samaranch thought it would be a good idea to follow up the invitation with talks to get the two Koreas together in friendly sports," Bach said.
Bach will be the lone IOC delegate. He will arrive in Pyongyang via Beijing with Daimler-Benz representatives, who will donate a company bus to the North Korean NOC.
"I think the IOC is in an ideal position to encourage athletes of both Koreas to compete against each other. The core of our ideals is to bring people together to compete, without regard to politics or religion," Bach added.
"We are open, we are ready to organise the competition at any place in the world," Bach said. "Lausanne would be an ideal place. We'll see if we can get an agreement in principle. I'm glad to be going to Pyongyang."
Kim Un-yong, South Korea's Olympic Committee president and IOC executive board member, said he was surprised and pleased that Bach would be talking with the North's NOC.
"This just happened. I didn't know about it," he said, adding the two Korean Olympic committees had had good ties for years.
North and South Korea formed single soccer and table tennis teams for international tournaments in the early 1990s, but there have been no sporting exchanges since then.
The two Korea's are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a now fraying truce, rather than a permanent peace accord.
Their heavily militarised border is sealed with no direct communications allowed, including mail. Unauthorised contact between people of the two nations is also banned.
South Korean President Kim Dae-jung has launched what he calls a "sunshine policy" with the North since taking office in February. The policy calls for stepped up business and cultural contacts between the two neighbours, while leaving the question of political reunification to the distant future.
South Korea and Japan are co-hosting the 2002 soccer World Cup and there has been talk in the past about playing one or two matches in North Korea. Pyongyang has not responded to the idea.
Reuters
