No joint march for Koreas in opening ceremony

Luge athlete Daniel Pfister of Austria races down the track at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games in Whistler, British Columbia on Wednesday.

Athletes from North and South Korea will not march together in the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee confirmed Wednesday that the two sides failed to reach agreement on a unified march.

Korean athletes marched together at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, extending a tradition that started at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney and continued at the 2004 Athens Olympics. However, the two teams did not march together in Beijing in 2008.

The Koreas have been divided since 1945, and fought a three-year war in the 1950s.

South Korea has 46 athletes entered for the Vancouver Games. North Korea has two – one each in figure skating and speedskating.