1ST LEAD Olympic organizer: North Korea wants to participate in four sports By Dirk Godder, dpa

Seoul (dpa) - North Korea aims to send athletes in four sports to the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month, the president of the Pyeongchang Games organizing committee (POCOG), Lee Hee Beom, said on Thursday.Lee said that North Korea wants to compete in cross-country and alpine skiing along with figure skating and women‘s ice hockey at the February 9-25 Games. The POCOG chief could not say how many North Korean athletes would participate because that is to be decided at a meeting Saturday at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne."Basically, the IOC is the one that invites countries to the Olympics. And the agreement between South and North Korea must follow the IOC‘s standards," the Yonhap news agency quoted Lee as saying.Pairs figure skaters Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik are the only North Koreans who have met qualifying criteria but missed all registration deadlines.IOC president Thomas Bach said last week the door remains open for North Koreans to participate, with details to be discussed at Saturday‘s meeting which brings together the IOC, POCOG, the heads of both Korean national Olympic Committees and their respective IOC members.First direct talks between the two countries since 2015 were held last week, and a working-level meeting Wednesday resulted in North and South Korea forming a joint women‘s ice hockey team and saying they would march together at the opening ceremony behind a unified flag.Former United Nations special adviser Willi Lemke said the latest developments, after months of tensions in the region over North Korea‘s missile and nuclear programme, showed the power of sport."I am very happy that sport was able to restore contacts between the two governments. It shows the power of sport," Lemke told dpa. Lemke, 71, is a former top official at Bundesliga football club Werder Bremen. He was UN special adviser on Sport for Development and Peace between 2008 and 2016, and has also visited North Korea in this capacity."South Korea‘s government has the immediate urge not to let the situation escalate further because it is much too dangerous." Looking at North Korea, he added: "They are not interested in a war they cannot win. It is pure rhetoric and the desire to be taken seriously on the international stage."Lemke said he couldn‘t foresee whether the dialogue would continue after the Olympics but that "those responsible in both states would be well advised to look into which further steps could follow in the dialogue in order to avoid hostilities in Korea."