The presidential office has cautioned against rash speculations about a unified Korean team for the PyeongChang Olympics, saying how and in what form such a team will be created will only be discussed if the North’s participation in the winter games is confirmed.  
 
Presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun made the remark in a media briefing on Monday, denying that the president directly expressed his wish to see a unified Korean team at the PyeongChang Games.
 
Park said the president mentioned a unified team merely as an example of the positive outcomes from the past joint inter-Korean Olympic teams in connection with the issue of the North's participation in the PyeongChang Games. Moon touched on unified teams in a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Taekwondo Championships in Muju, North Jeolla Province on June 24th.
 
Meanwhile, during a meeting with International Olympic Committee(IOC) President Thomas Bach at the top office earlier in the day, Moon asked whether the number of South Korean IOC members can be increased from the current two, to three.
 
Bach was known to have answered that the matter depends on the country’s participation in international sports, but for the moment it is difficult without changing the IOC rules. 

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