Torch bearers will traverse South Korea with...

Torch bearers will traverse South Korea with the Olympic flame before the Olympics, but organizers said they will alter the path to include North Korea if Pyongyang abandons its boycott of the Summer Games.

“If the North Koreans decide to participate, we will be glad to run the torch up,” said Han Kwang-soo, the relay operations director. “We don’t have a contingency plan ready, but we’ll reroute.”

The 6,667-mile relay--by carriers on foot, horseback, ship, motorcycle, bicycle and wheelchair--is to start on the southern island of Cheju and zigzag north toward the border before heading to the Olympic Stadium in Seoul.