PARIS, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The French Winter Olympics team will not attend the 2018 Games in South Korea if situation on the Korean Peninsula worsens and its safety cannot be guaranteed, the country's sport minister Laura Fiessel said to media on Thursday.
"We will not put our team in danger," Fiessel said during an interview on RTL radio.
The 2018 Games are slated for February 9 - 25 in Pyeongchang -- about 80 km from the border of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
DPRK claims to have successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb on September 3, prompting global criticism. Since then, the United States and DPRK have been trading insults and threats as the situation goes from bad to worse.
The French minister is the first politician from a participating nation to raise doubts over the situation on the peninsula. However, the 2018 Games' organizing body said it is closely monitoring the geopolitical situation with the South Korean government, adding that safety is the top priority.
"Safety and security is one of the most important aspects of the Games' preparations," Sung Baik-you, a spokesman for the organizing committee said Friday in a statement to Reuters.
IOC executive board member and International Ski Federation President Gian Franco Kasper said to AFO earlier this month that there is no "plan B" to hold the Games elsewhere.
"What I fear is that some nations may boycott the Games, because they have concerns for their athletes."
France ranked 8th in total medals won with 15 medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
