Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International...

Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, said in Albertville, France, that all the 19 countries of the Soviet Bloc--including North Korea--have agreed to take part in the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul.

Their participation was long in doubt because of a North Korean threat to organize a Communist boycott of Seoul unless half the events were shifted to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

Samaranch came to Albertville directly from a conference in East Berlin attended by the sports ministers of the 19 Socialist countries, including North Korea.