Two teams to march together at Sydney

A new era in the history of the Korean people will open at 6:40 p.m. on September 15, with 6 billion people around the world, including 110,000 spectators who will gather in Australia`s Olympic Stadium, watching.

After events celebrating the opening of the Sydney Olympics, which begin at 5 p.m., the people of the world will witness a new page in the history of the two Koreas with their own eyes or via television during the delegations` march into the stadium.

The South and North Korean delegations will enter the stadium 97 among the 200 countries participating in the games, including East Timor, which is taking part in the sports festival individually for the first time.

As soon as Korea is announced, the 180-member joint South and North Korean delegation will enter the stadium, led by a white flag emblazoned with the Korean peninsula in sky-blue, proclaiming to the world that South and North Korea will become one.

It will be the first time since the modern Olympics were launched in 1896 that the two sides of a divided country will enter the stadium together under one flag.

The delegates from the South and North will perform a combined march, clad in dark blue suits hastily airlifted from Seoul on Monday and wearing a Korean peninsula-shaped pin of business-card size on their left breasts.

The delegates from the two Koreas will wear beige pants and skirts and white shirts with orange-colored neckties. They will also wear dark brown or black shoes.

As the joint flag-bearers -- Chung Eun-Sun of South Korea and Park Jung-Chol of North Korea --appear at the stadium, all 110,000 spectators will welcome the Korean athletes and officials with a standing ovation.

Just behind the two flag carriers, Kim Un-yong, Executive Member of the International Olympic Committee and Chairman of the (South) Korean Olympic Committee, and Jang Yong, a North Korean IOC Member, will march together hand in hand to demonstrate to the whole world the peaceful atmosphere on the Korean peninsula that has been created since the June 15 inter-Korean

joint declaration.

The North dispatched 61 delegates -- 31 athletes and 30 officials -- to the competition. But if supporting personnel, including physical therapists, are included, the number of delegates exceeds 90.

The South chose a 90-member delegation from its total 398 delegates to enter the stadium, excluding contestants in archery, badminton and boxing, who are scheduled to compete on Friday, and players in sports like soccer, baseball and marathon.