How North Korea Managed to Crash the Olympics Party

With the Winter Olympics set to kick off in the alpine resort town of Pyeongchang, South Korea has welcomed a regime that only months ago was threatening to destroy it. North Korea has crashed the party, dispatching pop diva Hyon Song Wol and a cheerleading troupe, dubbed the “army of beauties,” as cultural emissaries. On Feb. 9, in a gesture designed to strike an emotional chord, a combined North-South team will march behind a Korean unity flag at the opening ceremony that will be broadcast worldwide.

Such is the surreal state of play on the Korean Peninsula, thanks to a diplomatic gambit initiated by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and embraced at the start of the year by North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. Both sides are counting on sports diplomacy to ease the acrimony between the two nations, which have technically been at war since 1953. Moon has described the move as a “good opportunity for inter-Korean peace and reconciliation.” Kim’s government is also making soothing sounds. In late January, the isolated nation called for a “breakthrough for independent reunification” and “great changes to the North-South relations as early as possible.”