The president of the International Olympic Committee(IOC) Thomas Bach said Friday that he will make efforts to get North Korea to participate in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

In an interview with Japan's Kyodo News in PyeongChang, the IOC chief said the organization would take the same approach as it had with the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

He said the IOC has always applied strict political neutrality, and would do the same for the Tokyo Games. 

He also expressed his hope to assist North Korean athletes prepare and qualify for the Summer Olympics. 

Bach reiterated that he is planning to make a trip to the North at the invitation of the country's National Olympic Committee at a "mutually convenient date,” but not during the PyeongChang Games.

Bach said the two Koreas' joint march in the opening ceremony delivered a very strong message of Olympic values to the world.

He said that everybody could see what the Olympic Games are about, "bringing people together to understand and respect each other and have peace."