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Kim Dong-hoon

A resolution calling for a temporary halt to conflicts around the world during the Winter Olympics next year in Pyeongchang is to be adopted on Nov. 13 by the UN General Assembly in New York.

The Olympic Truce Resolution for Pyeongchang calls for a stop to all hostile activities for a period starting seven days before the Games’ opening and continuing until seven days after they end. Noting that the Pyeongchang event in 2017 is the start of a “northeast Asia relay” that includes the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the resolution stresses that the truce is a meaningful opportunity to establish peace beyond the Korean Peninsula in the rest of northeast Asia and the world.

The General Assembly meeting is to be attended by a ten-person South Korean government delegation headed by Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Do Jong-hwan and including South Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Cho Tae-yul and athletes and Olympic and Paralympic honorary ambassadors Kim Yu-na and Jung Seung-hwan. During the meeting, Pyeongchang Winter Olympics organizing committee chairperson Lee Hee-beom is to introduce the resolution, after which Kim Yu-na is scheduled to give a statement of support prior to voting.

The resolution’s drafting was spearheaded by the South Korean government, with discussions among UN member nations on the text’s wording. The UN has adopted Olympic truce resolutions for the Summer and Winter Games every two years since 1993.

By Lee Ju-hyun, staff reporter

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