Posted on Fri, Oct. 20, 2006email thisprint thisIOC: N. Korea might have nuked planDaily News Wire Services
IOC president Jacques Rogge says North Korea’s nuclear test last week has threatened a possible unified Korean team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“I had meetings with the national Olympic committees of North and South Korea a short while ago and we were making progress,” Rogge said yesterday in Tokyo. “But the nuclear test has changed everything and we are waiting for the resolution of this situation.”
Rogge said he is still in contact with the Olympic committees of both North and South Korea and that the IOC remains committed to the two nations forming a unified team.
After meetings last month mediated by Rogge, the two countries’ top Olympic officials said they were hopeful all remaining issues soon could be hammered out.
The two countries failed in recent talks to decide how they would combine their squads. South Korea insists athletes be selected based on performance. North Korea wants equal representation.
The Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, but their ties have warmed significantly following the 2000 summit between the two countries’ leaders.
Kim Jong-il Tries to Ban ‘Team America’
When it was first released in October 2004, “Team America” experienced criticism from both the left and the right.
That’s because the men behind the film, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, explained that they were not taking sides in the debate over U.S. foreign policy but were merely being equal-opportunity annoyers.
“When this movie is over, a lot of people will be confused about what side we’re on,” Parker said.
Parker and Stone, who are also the creators of Comedy Central’s “South Park,” used puppets reminiscent of the television marionette series “The Thunderbirds” to poke fun at the Hollywood Left, the U.S.'s image in the world and a certain Elvis-impersonating North Korean dictator.
Apparently, North Korean despot Kim Jong-il has seen “Team America” and is having a tizzy.
His ranting could have to do with the fact that Jong-il is depicted in the movie in some less-than-flattering ways.
For starters, the flick has the tyrant shooting his translator in the head and throwing former United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix into a tank of sharks.
The Jong-il character is a James Bond-type villain who is assisted by Hollywood celebs in carrying out a plan that he has to use weapons of mass destruction. Ultimately, he seeks to cause damage that’s far worse than 9/11.
In real – as opposed to reel – life, the North Korean Embassy in Prague is asking for a ban of the film in the Czech Republic.
According to the Czech press, an Embassy official claimed that the movie “harms the image of our country,” adding that “such behavior is not part of our [North Korea’s] country’s political culture.”
The Czech government evidently has no intention of cooperating with the Stalinist nation’s request.
“We told them it’s an unrealistic wish,” ministry spokesman Vit Kolar told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “Obviously, it’s absurd to demand that in a democratic country,” Kolar added.
The Left Coast Report hears that Kim Jong-il was really upset because his marionette was left out of the puppet sex scenes.