hankyoreh

discussing issues related to the Incheon Asian Games

By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter

During the inter-Korean working-level talks held on July 17, North Korea proposed sending 350 athletes and 350 cheerleaders, to the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon. The combined total of 700 people would be the most that North Korea has ever sent to the South for an event of this sort.

But the North Korean delegates walked out of the meeting after making an issue of the South Korean attitude, declaring that the talks had broken down. It may be difficult for the two sides to return to the table for the time being.

At 10 am, negotiators from North and South Korea sat down across from each other in the House of Peace on the South Korean side of Panmunjeom, discussing issues related to the games over the course of three general sessions. During the first session, held that morning, the North announced that it would send 350 athletes and 350 members of a cheering team to the Incheon Asian Games.

An athletic squad of 350 members would be more than twice the 150 athletes that North Korea told the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) on July 10 that it would be sending to the games. A cheering squad of 350 people, as well as the total delegation of 700 people, including the athletes and cheerleaders, would both be the largest of their kind.

North Korea proposed having the athletes flown by plane across the West (Yellow) Sea and having the cheerleading squad transported overland on the Gyeongui Line, a train route that connects Seoul with Shinuiju in North Korea. It also said that the cheering squad could stay in a passenger ferry named the Mangyeongbong 92.

South Korea responded to North Korea’s requests in the second session, which was held in the afternoon. The South Korean delegates said that, in regard to covering the travel expenses of the athletes and the cheerleading squad, it would follow international practices and the regulations of the event. In addition, they asked about who would be on the squad of athletes and the cheering team.

“When we asked specific questions like how many coaches and how many athletes would be on the squad and how many people would be in the brass band with the cheerleading squad, North Korea said that it would answer later in writing,” said an official with the Unification Ministry. “But when we persisted in asking this sort of question, North Korea adjourned the session. At the beginning of the third session, North Korea immediately announced that the talks had broken down and left the room.” In the end, North Korea took issue with the South Korean delegation’s attitude and cut the meeting short without even setting a date for the next one.

One of the biggest factors affecting the breakdown of negotiations between North and South Korea on Thursday seems to have been the mismatch between the two sides’ political motivations in regard to the size of the cheering team. North Korea appears to have intended to send the largest-ever cheering team to the games, viewing this as a chance to improve inter-Korean relations.

In contrast, South Korea seems to have been concerned that such a cheerleading squad could create public good will toward North Korea. As a result, when the cheerleading squad that the North proposed was larger than expected, the South Korean delegation could have asked excessively detailed questions in an attempt to sabotage the talks. “The South Korean delegation did not indicate its stance on the size of the cheerleading squad or the method of transportation,” an official with the Unification Ministry said in regard to this.

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