President Moon Jae-in is lauding the international community for coming together despite differences and conflicts to celebrate the Winter Games in South Korea, saying the PyeongChang Olympics will be a starting point for world peace. 

Moon made the remark in a welcoming speech he gave to a group of top representatives from various countries at a Pre-Olympics reception ceremony held at the Yongpyeong Ski Resort in Pyeongchang on Friday. 

The president said although countries have difficult issues to address with one another, including host South Korea, being together will be a precious starting point from which they can take further steps towards global peace. 

Noting that the PyeongChang Olympics brought together those who otherwise would not have been able to be in the same place, apparently referring to officials representing the two Koreas and their allies, Moon said what counts is they are now together, able to talk each other about the future, while rooting for athletes competing at the Games. 

President Moon also expressed high expectation for the inter-Korean women’s ice hockey team that will play in PyeongChang. 

He hoped that as the previous unified team from the two Koreas became a seed of peace by winning the women’s doubles at the World Table Tennis Championships in 1991, this unified ice hockey team will also make an impact on peace, adding the two-point-seven gram ping-pong ball has grown to become a 170-gram hockey puck.