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22 North Korean athletes will compete at 2018 Games: IOC

North Korea will send 22 athletes to next month's Winter Games in the South, the International Olympic Committee said in Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday. The IOC also confirmed that the two nations will march together at the opening ceremony.

Published: 20 January 2018 14:19 CET

22 North Korean athletes will compete at 2018 Games: IOC

2018 Olympics President Lee Hee-beom, North Korea's Sports Minister Kim Il Guk, IOC President Thomas Bach, South Korean Minister of Culture Do Jong-hwan and South Korea's National Olympic Committee Pr

The IOC has further approved a plan for North and South to field a unified women's hockey team, Olympic chief Thomas Bach told reporters following a meeting in Lausanne with sport and government officials from the two countries.

The announcement from Bach marked the approval of a landmark deal between the two Koreas that has eased tensions building for months.

The 22 athletes will compete in three sports and a total of five disciplines, including figure skating, short-track speed skating, cross-country skiing and Alpine skiing, in addition to hockey.

North Korea will also send 24 officials and 21 media representatives to the Games in Pyeongchang, which start on February 9.

At the opening ceremony, the joint delegation “will be led into the Olympic stadium by the Korean unification flag” carried together by an athlete from each country, the IOC said. A special unity uniform will be created for the event.

“Today marks a milestone on a long journey,” Bach said after the meeting, which finalised details previously agreed between the two countries. “The Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang are hopefully opening the door to a brighter future on the Korean peninsula, and inviting the world to join in a celebration of hope.”

North and South Korea remain technically at war since the Korean war ended with armistice, not a peace treaty, in 1953.

The North's decision to compete in Pyeongchang — just 80 kilometres south of the demilitarised zone that divides the Koreas — is an historic diplomatic coup, especially after months that saw nuclear and missile tensions surge to new heights.

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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