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Seoul’s metropolitan government has announced that it has notified the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of its intention to enter a joint bid for the 2032 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games with Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.

The announcement marks the latest development in a project that started in earnest in September 2018, and comes with the Australian city of Brisbane seemingly in the box seat for the 2032 Games.

The South Korean capital city’s government said a written proposal on the joint hosting of the 2032 Games has been submitted to the IOC’s Future Host Commission. “The IOC selected Australia’s Brisbane as the preferred host for the 2032 summer Olympics in a surprise move announced on Feb. 25,” the metropolitan government said, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.

“The South Korean government and the Seoul city immediately expressed regrets at the decision and held consultations with the IOC, leading to the presentation of the co-hosting proposal.”

The government said that as Brisbane has yet to be officially rubber-stamped as the destination, it has asked the IOC to continue to hold talks with other potential host cities. The three levels of government in Australia all confirmed their support for Brisbane’s bid last month. In February, the IOC said it would begin talks with Brisbane about its bid after selecting the Australian city as a non-binding ‘preferred candidate’ for the event.

In November 2018, North and South Korea agreed to inform the IOC of their intention to co-host the 2032 Games. The bid is designed to continue efforts of reconciliation between the two countries, whose athletes walked out together under a unified flag at the opening ceremony of the 2018 winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, as well as fielding a combined women’s ice hockey team.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in September 2018 agreed to pursue a joint bid for the 2032 Olympics. In February 2019, Seoul was selected as South Korea’s candidate city for the joint bid, with the capital defeating a rival bid from Busan, the country’s second-largest city.

In November last year, South Korea made its first formal proposal to North Korea to co-host the 2024 winter Youth Olympic Games. The IOC in January 2020 voted to award the event to Gangwon Province in South Korea, with the lack of a designated host city opening up the possibility that the YOG could be shared.

The metropolitan government today said its co-hosting proposal for 2032 will be run under the banner of ‘Beyond the Line, Toward the Future’. Five major concepts have been identified, including cost reduction and minimal environmental damage, inter-Korean connection and peace, and a combination of cutting-edge technology and Korean culture.

However, relations between the two countries have soured of late. When asked about whether the idea was shared with Pyongyang, a Seoul government official told Reuters the proposal was the result of intra-agency meetings and the Unification Ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs would seek talks with the North. – Sport Business