Sport can promote peace, Korean football and Olympic bids say

Nov 24, 2010, 10:30 GMT

Berlin - Hosting the Winter Olympics in 2018 and the football World Cup in 2022 can promote peace and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula, South Korean bid officials said on Wednesday in the wake of North Korea's artillery attack.

Two South Korean marines and two civilians died when North Korea's military on Tuesday shelled a South Korean island in the Yellow Sea.

The new tensions came just over a week before the 2022 World Cup host city is elected by the ruling body FIFA on December 2 in Zurich. South Korea is bidding for the event along with Japan, Australia, Qatar and the United States.

'The incident will not affect our bid. In fact, the tensions on the Korean Peninsula are all the more reason why we should promote peace and reconciliation now and in the future,' the World Cup bid committee said in a statement on its website.

The bid committee for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang issued a similar statement to the Around The Rings service.

'We believe that a Winter Games in PyeongChang will help promote the positive messages of peace and understanding, which are at the heart of the Olympic Movement, all across our region,' the statement said.

The 2018 Games host is elected by the International Olympic Committee on July 6, 2011. Munich and Annecy are the other candidates.

Pyeongchang's committee also said that Tuesday's incidents should not raise security concerns around the big. The football committee said as well that its bid should not be affected by the hostilities.

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