SEOUL, South Korea (AP) 鈥� Chang Ung, a former North Korean member of the International Olympic Committee who once led with rival South Korea, including joint marches of their athletes at the Olympics, has died, the IOC announced Wednesday. He was 87.
said on its website that it had learned with 鈥渆xtreme sadness鈥� of Chang鈥檚 death on Sunday. It said the Olympic flag will be flown at half-mast for three days at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The IOC statement didn’t describe the cause of Chang’s death. North Korea鈥檚 state media has not reported on his death.
Born in 1938, Chang was originally a basketball player who captained the North Korean national team. After retiring from the sport, he became an athletics administrator, serving as a vice sports minister, a vice chairman of North Korea鈥檚 national Olympic Committee and a vice president of the Olympic Council of Asia.
In 1996, Chang was elected to the IOC. As North Korea鈥檚 only-ever IOC member, he represented his country on international sports fields and headed numerous 鈥� if often rocky 鈥� talks with South Korea to promote sports exchange and cooperation programs between the rivals.
The most notable results of this diplomacy came at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, when athletes of the two Koreas marched together under a 鈥渦nification flag鈥� depicting their peninsula during the opening and closing ceremonies, the first joint parade since their division in 1945.
Athletes of the Koreas walked together at following Olympic Games and major international sports events, including the in South Korea. After watching a joint march in Pyeongchang鈥檚 opening ceremony, Chang told reporters that he was deeply moved.
Chang played a key role in earlier reconciliation talks with South Korea, which led to the two countries sending their first unified male and female teams to the 1991 world table tennis championships in Chiba, Japan. In Pyeongchang, the two Koreas fielded their for women鈥檚 ice hockey.
In a 2004 interview with South Korea鈥檚 Chosun Ilbo newspaper, Chang said that organizing the 2000 joint march was 鈥渞eally a tough鈥� job. He also said he strongly supported Pyeongchang鈥檚 earlier, failed bid to host the Winter Olympics.
South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young expressed condolences over Chang鈥檚 death. In a Facebook post Wednesday, Chung, a staunch advocate of rapprochement with North Korea, recalled his 2007 meeting with Chang on taekwondo exchange programs and said he honors Chang’s 鈥渘oble dedication to (Korean) unity and peace.鈥�
between North and South Korea have suffered as political relations frayed.
There have been no sports or other exchange programs between the countries for years. North Korea has shunned talks with South Korea and the U.S. since its leader Kim Jong Un鈥檚 broader with U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019. Kim also branded South Korea as a permanent enemy and rejected the idea of future unification.
The IOC said Chang鈥檚 contributions helped advance sports participation, cultural exchanges and the role of sport in society.
鈥淗is efforts to promote cooperation on the Korean Peninsula demonstrated the power of sport to build bridges and inspire hope,鈥� IOC President Kirsty Coventry said.
The IOC said Chang served on several commissions, including Sport for All and the International Olympic Truce Foundation.
North Korea鈥檚 official news agency, KCNA, last mentioned Chang in 2023, when he was awarded the Olympic Order, an award given to those who have made extraordinary contributions to the Olympics, during an IOC session in Mumbai, India. Chang, then an honorary IOC member, joined the ceremony by video.
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