{"id":105878,"date":"2018-02-05T12:00:45","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T12:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=105878"},"modified":"2018-02-01T14:12:32","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T14:12:32","slug":"north-korean-athletes-arrive-in-south-korea-for-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/02\/north-korean-athletes-arrive-in-south-korea-for-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korean Athletes Arrive in South Korea for Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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North Korean Olympic delegation arrives at Seoul, South Korea 1 Feb 2018. AP<\/p><\/div>\n

1 Feb 2018<\/em> \u2014 North Korean skiers and skaters arrived today at a South Korean airport to participate in the Winter Olympics that has brought a temporary lull in tensions surrounding their country\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n

The 32-member delegation led by North Korean Vice Sports Minister Won Kil U included 10 athletes who were invited to compete in the alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating and shot-track speed skating events in the Pyeongchang Games.<\/p>\n

Greeted by a barrage of camera flashes, the North Koreans \u2014 wearing fur hats and black coats \u2014 ignored reporters\u2019 questions and made beelines for the buses parked outside the terminal amid a heavy police presence. They will go straight to the athletes\u2019 village in Gangneung.<\/p>\n

They were the last group of North Korean athletes to arrive for the Olympics. Their 12 compatriots in women\u2019s ice hockey have been practicing with their South Korean teammates for the games\u2019 only unified team since last month.<\/p>\n

The Koreas have been planning several conciliatory gestures during the Olympics Seoul sees as an opportunity to revive meaningful communication with the North after a period of animosity and diplomatic stalemate over its nuclear weapons and missiles program.<\/p>\n

South Korea used a rare chartered flight between the countries to fly the North Korean athletes on Thursday. They were accompanied by South Korean non-Olympic skiers who earlier in the day practiced and participated in friendly competitions with North Korean skiers at the North\u2019s Masik ski resort at the end of a two-day trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than anything, it\u2019s meaningful that the joint training session at the Masik ski resort was held in the way the South and North had agreed to,\u201d said Lee Joo-tae, an official from Seoul\u2019s Unification Ministry, who had accompanied the South Korean delegation. \u201cIt\u2019s also meaningful that we were able to come back with North Korean athletes on the same plane.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another rare sight on Thursday was North Korean flags that began flying in Olympic villages and stadiums in Pyeongchang and Gangneung, something that normally wouldn\u2019t be tolerated in a country with a strict anti-communist law still in effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf feels amazing (that they are coming),\u201d said Choi So Eun, a college student who volunteered for translation and other work during the Olympics, after taking a selfie with a fellow volunteer under a North Korean flag at the Gangneung athletes\u2019 village.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought only high-level officials in South Korea could see a North Korean in person, but I think I can see them here so I\u2019m excited,\u201d Choi said.<\/p>\n

Another volunteer, Choi Sangyoung, said he hopes that the Olympics would help ease animosities between the rivals and lead them toward a \u201cpeaceful and good\u201d direction.<\/p>\n

South Korea is preparing to host hundreds of other North Koreans during the games, including a 230-member cheering group and a 140-strong art troupe who are due to arrive next week. The Koreas have agreed to jointly march under a single \u201cunification\u201d flag during the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

The Koreas\u2019 Olympics-inspired reconciliation steps came after an extended period of animosity and diplomatic stalemate over North Korea\u2019s advancing nuclear and missiles programs. Seoul sees the developments as an opportunity to revive meaningful communication with Pyongyang. Some outside experts say the North may aim to use improved ties with South Korea as a way to weaken U.S.-led international sanctions.<\/p>\n

North Korean flags also flew during the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, the last time the North sent a big delegation to a sporting event across the border. Displaying North Korean flags in public is banned under South Korea\u2019s anti-Pyongyang security law, but the South has allowed exceptions when it hosts North Koreans for international events.<\/p>\n

Pyeongchang, a relatively small ski resort town, will host the ski, snowboard and sliding events during the Olympics. Gangneung, a larger coastal city about an hour\u2019s drive away, will host the skating, hockey and curling events.<\/p>\n

The Olympics start on Feb. 9.<\/p>\n

_____________________________________<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 apnews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Feb 2018 \u2014 North Korean 32-member delegation of skiers and skaters arrived today at a South Korean airport to participate in the Winter Olympics that has brought a temporary lull in tensions surrounding their country\u2019s nuclear program. The Olympics start on 9 Feb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":105881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}