IOC chief hosts talks on joint Korean Olympic team

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Sep 5 (Reuters) International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge was holding separate talks with North and South Korean officials today aimed at forging a joint team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The two Koreas agreed in November 2005 to send a combined team, but have since failed to overcome differences over how it should be selected.

Rogge met a North Korean delegation this morning at the IOC's headquarters in Lausanne and was due to hold discussions with South Korean officials later.

IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said he might then host a joint session if things went well.

''The idea is to have a full update from both sides ... Depending on the outcome, there might be a joint meeting (of North and South Korea Olympic delegations),'' Moreau told reporters.

Pyongyang wants equal representation of athletes from the North and South, while Seoul says selection should be on merit.

Neither Rogge nor Mun Jae Dok, head of North Korea's Olympic committee, made any comment as they left the talks at the Chateau de Vidy complex. Seoul's delegation was expected to be led by South Korean Olympic committee chief Kim Jung-Kil.

Rogge has said it is up to the Olympic committees of both nations to work out a plan for a joint team. Moreau said there was no IOC proposal under discussion in today's meetings.

The Olympic committees for the two Koreas had been scheduled to hold their next round of talks on a joint team on July 20 and 21, but the discussions were delayed because of diplomatic tensions over North Korea's test-firing of missiles in July.

Still technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace treaty, North and South Korea first considered competing as a joint team at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, but years of military tensions have kept the proposal at bay.

North and South Korea have marched together at the Olympics in the past -- most recently at this year's Winter Games in Turin -- but competed as seperate teams.

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