Koreans considering joint bid for Asian Winter Games

Pyeongchang, February 20: Buoyed by the success of 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, South Korea and North Korea are mulling a joint bid to host the 2021 Asian Winter Games.

The host city for the 2021 event has not been decided yet. It is expected to be announced sometime later this year. The previous edition was held in Sapporo, Japan, from February 19 to 26, 2017.

According to reports in Korean media, North's Masikryong ski resort will be made available for the Games, if Korea submits a co-hosting bid.

The reports were attributed to Chang Ung, North Korea's representative on the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"We're considering the idea of South and North Korea jointly hosting the Asian Winter Games as one way to increase the usage of the facilities after the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and of continuing inter-Korean harmony and exchange," Choi was quoted as saying in Yonhap news agency.

N. Korean IOC Member: Co-Hosting Asian Winter Games Possible https://t.co/R1T30by54C pic.twitter.com/uDhA27aisD

— NorthKorea Newz (@NorthKorea_Newz) February 20, 2018

His comments came a few days after a South Korean provincial governor said Gangwon province, host for the current Winter Olympics, was considering a proposal to co-host the 2021 Asian Winter Games.

The joint bid offer has also come in the light of thaw in bilateral relations between the two neighbours in the run up to the ongoing Pyeongchang Games.

Right from the start, concerns over North Korea have overshadowed the Winter Games, which Seoul and the organisers have proclaimed a "peace Olympics", urging Pyongyang to participate, unlike the 1988 Summer Olympics in the South, which it boycotted.

In a rare first, the Games saw athletes from both sides, technically still at war, marching together at the opening ceremony and fielding a unified women's ice hockey team.

Thanks to it, IOC President Thomas Bach has even decided to visit North Korea after the conclusion of the ongoing Winter Olympics on February 25.