Two Koreas wrap up basketball friendlies, hold sports talks to continue exchanges

The two Koreas wrapped up two days of inter-Korean basketball games on Thursday.Senior officials of Seoul and Pyongyang saw the games as a great success... and stressed that inter-Korean sports exchanges should be further strengthened.And this -- led to the sudden and unexpected opening of working-level sports talks just before midnight.Oh Jung-hee tells us more. Wrapping up the second and final day of Unification Basketball Games,... the South and North Korean officials shared their impressions of the friendlies.A farewell dinner was held in Pyongyang on Thursday evening,... hosted by Choe Hwi, the chairman of North Korea's National Sports Guidance Committee. Choe said,... seeing the players running together,... he felt the two Koreas are, in the end, one -- sharing the same history and language.He went onto stress that Seoul and Pyongyang should further strengthen their sports exchanges and win even more gold medals at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta. South Korea's Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said... every match had been heart-warming.He added... the success of the games paves the way for more inter-Korean sports exchanges... and the two Koreas should go together just like the basketball players did. And to keep the momentum going, Seoul and Pyongyang held hastily-arranged inter-Korean working-level sports talks late Thursday night. The main talking points -- the teams marching together under the Korean Unification Flag at the Asian Games in August... as well as North Korea's participation in both the 2018 Korea Open Table Tennis competition in July and the World Shooting Championship in August in South Korea. Vice ministers of Seoul and Pyongyang's sports ministries headed their respective five-member delegations.The working-level talks came three weeks after their high-level sports talks in June. The specifics of the talks will be released in the coming hours.Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.