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IOC extends deadline for North Korea to register for winter Games

The International Olympic Committee has "extended the deadline" for North Korea's participation in the winter Olympics, it announced on Monday.

Published: 9 January 2018 08:42 CET

IOC extends deadline for North Korea to register for winter Games

IOC President Thomas Bach. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

“We will be as flexible as we can be,” an IOC spokesman told AFP over North Korea sending a team to the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea.

On Tuesday North and South Korea will hold their first official dialogue in more than two years to discuss the North's participation at the 2018 Games in the truce village of Panmunjom.

IOC president Thomas Bach is due to meet Chang Ung, a member of the North Korean Olympic body, at IOC headquarters in Lausanne later this week.

The tentative rapprochement comes after the North's leader Kim Jong-Un warned in his New Year speech that he had a nuclear button on his desk, but also said Pyongyang could send a team to the Olympics.

“We welcome the discussion which will take place… between the governments of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK),” the IOC said.

“The IOC has been having discussions with both sides for a long time.

“In doing so we have kept the door open by extending the deadline for registration, and by offering support to North Korean athletes in the qualification process, whilst always respecting United Nations sanctions.”

On Saturday, Chang said the isolated state was “likely to participate” in the Pyeongchang Games from February 9th-25th, Kyodo news agency reported.

Two North Korean athletes — pairs figure skaters Ryom Tae-Ok and Kim Ju-Sik — qualified for the Games but Pyongyang's Olympic Committee missed an October 30th deadline to confirm to the International Skating Union that they would participate.

The IOC in its statement on Monday emphasised that its mission was “always to ensure the participation of qualified athletes, beyond all political tensions and divisions.

“With regard to the very particular situation on the Korean peninsula we need the political commitment from all parties concerned to make such a participation possible,” it added.

“Once this political commitment is clear the IOC will take the final decision.”

Danish chef spent ten years infiltrating North Korea

Former chef Ulrich Larsen shakes hands with Alejandro Cao de Benós, the 'gatekeeper to North Korea'. Photo: Piraya Films

“The Mole – Undercover in North Korea”, which broadcasts on Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and British TV this Sunday, uses footage shot with hidden cameras Ulrich Larsen brought to meetings in Europe and North Korea, to expose how North Koreans are desperately trying to obtain US dollars and oil for the regime through encouraging foreign investors to break international UN sanctions.

The film is directed by the Danish film maker Mads Brügger, who hired Jim Latrache-Qvortrup to represent an arms dealer called “Mr James”, who accompanied Larsen to meetings and then signed a contract on a visit to Pyongyang with a representative of a North Korean arms factory, with government officials present.

Larsen, who had had to give up work due to chronic inflammation of his pancreas, began working on the project out of boredom. He told Danish broadcaster DR that he approached Brügger after curiosity about the regime led him to join the Korean Friendship Association (KFA).

There he came into contact with Alejandro Cao de Benós, a Spanish nobleman who presents himself as “the Gatekeeper of North Korea”.

“I started with the project to make time go by when I was on sickness benefits,” he told DR. “But when I got started, I became curious. 'Is this possible?” “Is it real?” And I think sometimes it's healthy to sniff at something that seems exciting.”

In 2013, Cao De Benós contacted Larsen, telling him he had three interesting investment projects in North Korea if Larsen could find people with more than 50,000 euros to invest.

It was then that Brügger hired Latrache-Qvortrup, a former foreign legionnaire who had spent eight years in prison for dealing drugs to the rich and famous.

Latrache-Qvortrup then accompanied Larsen on trips to Uganda, Spain, Norway and North Korea to help expose the hermit state's influence operation.

Larsen said he had kept his double life secret from his family.

“My wife was never told at all that what I was doing could be dangerous. Not at all,” he said. “I can see that it's selfish, but if I had told her, I would probably have been told not to come home. At the same time, it was also a way to protect her. Because if she knew I was going out to meet with an arms dealer, she would have been sitting at home a total wreck.”

One of the most tense moments came when Cao De Benós brought a device that detects hidden cameras to a meeting.

Hugh Griffiths, co-ordinator of the UN Panel of Experts on North Korea between 2014 and 2019, told the BBC that he had found the film “highly credible”.

“This film is the most severe embarrassment to Chairman Kim Jong-un that we have ever seen,” said Griffiths. “Just because it appears amateurish does not mean the intention to sell and gain foreign currency revenue is not there. Elements of the film really do correspond with what we already know.”

Larsen told DR that now the film was being broadcast, he was worried that he might face repercussions.

“There is no doubt that some people are going to be pretty angry. I have pissed all over some of these people and lied incredibly. And it's easy to travel around the world, so if they now decide that I should learn a lesson. Or if the North Koreans could think of sending someone after me…”

But he said he hoped that would not happen.

“I then choose to believe that they are not so… what can I say… low-down practical. But it may be that they want to set an example and scare me, or do something worse. I do not know what will happen.”

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