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Nobel Peace Prize for Korean hockey team?

February 13, 2018

The governing body for the Olympic Games has said the organization has given no thought to any peace prize nomination. An IOC executive board member had claimed the idea had support among senior officials.

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North Korean cheerleaders at Olympic hockey match
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Yeon-Je

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has not discussed nominating the unified Korean hockey team for the Nobel peace prize, the body's spokesman said on Tuesday after an IOC member said she had received support for the idea.

"From an IOC administrative level there's been no consideration whatsoever of this," spokesman Mark Adams said.

Angela Ruggiero, an American IOC executive member and former Olympic hockey gold medalist, had said other IOC members voiced support for the idea after she suggested it.

"We should recognize them [the unified hockey team] in some capacity. Whether it's the Nobel peace prize or something else ... it deserves some sort of recognition," she said.

Read more: Historic handshake marks Korean unity at Olympic Opening Ceremony

'Peace Olympics'

North and South Korean players have been playing in a unified Korean hockey team at this year's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The historic decision was part of a broader effort by Seoul and Pyongyang to improve ties following heightened tensions in the wake of North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons tests at the end of 2017.

On Monday, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, met South Korean President Moon Jae In during a hockey game between the unified Korea team and Switzerland.

Jong, who subsequently invited Moon to visit Pyongyang, was the first member of the North's ruling dynasty to visit the South since the end outbreak of the Korean War in 1950.

amp/rc (AFP, dpa)