By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter

North Koreans will be able to enjoy the upcoming Olympic Games in Athens as South Korea has accepted the North’s request to relay the broadcast of the sporting event to Pyongyang.

The Korean Broadcasting Commission (KBC) in Seoul said Sunday it has recently agreed with its Northern counterpart to transmit the Summer Games broadcast to North Korea via satellite.

In the past, the North has usually pirated the broadcasting of international sporting events instead of buying broadcasting rights.

``There will be no technical problems in relaying the broadcast to the North because we already have relevant experience,’’ a KBC official said.

It will be the second time for the South to provide broadcasting of a sports event to the North for free since the Summer Universiade, an international collegiate sporting event, was held in Taegu last year.

Athletes from the two Koreas are scheduled to march into the stadium together under one Korean flag during the opening and closing ceremonies of the games, which begin on Aug. 13 and continue for 17 days.

It is not clear whether the North Korean government will allow its people to watch the joint marches as Pyongyang usually edits any parts of sports programs which it believes could negatively affect the communist regime.

The KBC plans to receive broadcasts from Athens via a submarine cable for South Korean viewers and hook it up to a satellite for the North.

The deal became possible after the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) permitted the North to receive the broadcasts without payment through consultations with Pyongyang officials in late July.

The International Olympic Committee requires the ABU to negotiate broadcasting fees with every broadcaster.

The cost for the satellite service will reportedly reach up to 400 million won ($340,000). The KBC will pay half of the total, while the government plans to fund the other half through the inter-Korean cooperation fund.

im@Koreatimes.co.kr