IOC: North Korea commits to fix anti-doping issue

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP):

The IOC received commitments from North Korea that it will work to “remedy” its anti-doping controls that led to the country’s testing agency being suspended this week.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach met with sports and government officials from North and South Korea yesterday, and they talked about creating combined teams in four sports to try to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The four do not include the marquee South Korean sports of football and baseball.

Bach hosted Korean officials one day after the World Anti-Doping Agency announced North Korea’s testing programme was non-compliant for failing to meet international standards, raising questions about how its athletes are tested.

Doping control tests in North Korea will now be supervised by China’s anti-doping agency at North Korea’s expense.

Bach said the senior North Korean delegate in Lausanne, Sports Minister Kim II Guk, “expressed the full commitment of the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to remedy this situation as soon as possible”.

Kim stood next to Bach but did not speak to reporters.

The IOC said it was studying requests by the two countries’ Olympic committees to set up combined Korean teams for 2020 qualification in women’s basketball, women’s field hockey, the mixed team event in judo, and men’s and women’s rowing.

Earlier, Bach also said the two countries expressed “the intention and the will” to bid to organise the Summer Games in 2032.