James Gibney, Columnist

Korea's Olympic Compromise Is Fool's Gold

Marching together in the games will give both sides a tactical victory, but little will actually change.

January 18, 2018 at 4:50 PM UTC

James Gibney is an editor for Bloomberg Opinion. Previously an editor at the Atlantic, the New York Times, Smithsonian, Foreign Policy and the New Republic, he was also in the U.S. Foreign Service from 1989 to 1997 in India, Japan and Washington.

It's happened before.
Photographer: Chung Sung-jun/Getty Images

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For anyone who thinks it's a major diplomatic breakthrough to have the two Koreas march under one flag at the Winter Olympics and field a joint women's' ice hockey team … well, I have a DMZ to sell you.

Yes, next month's opening ceremony will mark the first sporting event in a decade where the two sides have entered under one banner. But they've done it eight times before. And they've fielded joint teams twice before.