Olympic Thaw?

This month, nearly 3,900 of the world’s best athletes are descending on Pyeongchang, South Korea, for the Winter Olympics. They’ll tackle the slopes and hit the ice to compete in 102 different events, including four new ones: big-air snowboarding, alpine team skiing, mass start speed skating, and mixed doubles curling. 

But sports won’t be the only focus of the Games. While athletes go for the gold in South Korea, much of the world’s attention will be trained on the country’s hostile neighbor, North Korea. 

That nation’s unpredictable dictator, Kim Jong Un, has put the world on edge over the past year by testing long-range ballistic missiles and threatening nuclear attacks against the United States and its allies in Asia, including South Korea and Japan.

This month, nearly 3,900 of the world’s best athletes are descending on Pyeongchang, South Korea. They will compete in the Winter Olympics. They’ll tackle the slopes and hit the ice to compete in 102 different events. This includes four new ones: big-air snowboarding, alpine team skiing, mass start speed skating, and mixed doubles curling.

But sports won’t be the only focus of the Games. Much of the world’s attention will be on the country’s hostile neighbor, North Korea.

That nation’s unpredictable dictator is Kim Jong Un. He has put the world on edge over the past year. He tested long-range ballistic missiles. He also threatened nuclear attacks against the United States and its allies in Asia, including South Korea and Japan.

Fears of a nuclear conflict have grown. Kim has repeatedly clashed with President Donald Trump in the press and on social media. Kim has vowed to wipe out the U.S., while Trump has threatened to “totally destroy North Korea.”

Kim had initially planned to boycott the Games, which run from February 9 to 25. But last month, North Korea suddenly announced that it would send athletes to take part in the Winter Olympics for the first time in eight years.

In another historic move, North and South Korea decided to form a joint women’s ice hockey team. This is the first time athletes from the Koreas will play together on an Olympic team. The two countries also agreed to march together at the opening ceremony under a unified Korean flag. This hasn’t happened in more than a decade.

The announcements are a milestone in relations between North and South Korea. They came as high-level officials from both countries met in person for the first time in more than two years. South Korea’s newly elected president is Moon Jae-in. He has said that he wants to negotiate with North Korea, not confront it.

Many people think North Korea is trying to take advantage of South Korea’s goodwill. They say Kim is just looking to drive a wedge between the U.S. and South Korea. People believe he wants to gain relief from economic sanctions. Those sanctions have been imposed by the U.S., South Korea, and other countries over his nuclear program. (Experts say it’s unlikely that sanctions will be lifted anytime soon.)

Others are cautiously optimistic. They hope that North Korea’s participation in the Games could be the start of a thaw in the isolated nation’s relationship with South Korea—and the world.

Says Olympics historian David Wallechinsky: “The Olympics are an opportunity to make a first step.”

The Pyeongchang Games are not the first time politics have claimed the Olympics’ spotlight. Athletes have long used the competition to speak out against human rights abuses and other injustices (see timeline, below). For example, more than 60 countries, including the U.S., skipped the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. They were protesting the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.

But for the Koreas, this controversy hits especially close to home. Athletes are competing just 60 miles from the demilitarized zone (DMZ). That is the heavily guarded boundary that has divided the two Koreas since the end of the Korean War (1950-1953). That conflict, in which 34,000 Americans died, ended in a stalemate. Both sides agreed to a cease-fire. But no peace treaty has ever been signed. The two nations continue to keep troops stationed along the DMZ, in case the conflict resumes.

Today, South Korea is a thriving democracy. It has the 13th-largest economy in the world. Meanwhile, communist North Korea is one of the poorest countries on Earth. It often faces shortages of food, water, and electricity. Kim pours much of his nation’s limited resources into his military.

The Koreas’ Olympic history has been just as rocky. When South Korea was selected to host the 1988 Summer Games, North Korea pushed to co-host. When rejected, it retaliated by blowing up a Korean Air flight before the Games, killing all 115 people on board. 

But the two countries have also presented a united front at the Olympics. They marched together under a unified Korean flag at three opening ceremonies: in 2000, 2004, and 2006. And in 2016, a gymnast from North Korea and one from South Korea snapped a selfie together, showcasing the potential power of the Games to overcome the countries’ differences. Though the public gushed over the photo, the Koreas’ relationship didn’t improve. 

The Koreas’ Olympic history has been just as rocky. When South Korea was selected to host the 1988 Summer Games, North Korea pushed to co-host. When it was rejected, it retaliated by blowing up a Korean Air flight before the Games. This act killed all 115 people on board.

But the two countries have also presented a united front at the Olympics. They marched together under a unified Korean flag at three opening ceremonies: in 2000, 2004, and 2006. And in 2016, a gymnast from North Korea and one from South Korea snapped a selfie together. This showcased the potential power of the Games to overcome the countries’ differences. Though the public gushed over the photo, the Koreas’ relationship didn’t improve.

South Korean authorities hope the postponement—along with recent talks with North Korea—will lead to improved ties and more dialogue, including restarting negotiations to end Kim’s nuclear program. In a promising sign, the direct phone line between the two countries was recently reopened after two years. Without it, South Korean officials had resorted to using a megaphone to yell important messages across the DMZ to their counterparts in North Korea.

Still, experts caution that many of the issues that divide the two Koreas remain unresolved. 

“There’s always hope, but it’s not an easy road ahead,” Town says.

South Korean authorities hope the postponement—along with recent talks with North Korea—will lead to improved ties and more dialogue. This includes restarting negotiations to end Kim’s nuclear program. In a hopeful sign, the direct phone line between the two countries was recently reopened after two years. Without it, South Korean officials used a megaphone to yell important messages across the DMZ to officials in North Korea.

Still, experts caution that many of the issues that divide the two Koreas are still unresolved.

“There’s always hope, but it’s not an easy road ahead,” Town says.

Despite the political drama, South Korean officials say they’re prepared for the Games. All 12 Olympic venues—including six brand-new ones—were ready to go a month before the opening ceremony. South Korea has also stepped up security, running counter-terrorist drills and deploying about 5,000 troops to the Games. 

The intense preparations are putting Olympic athletes at ease. U.S. freestyle skier Jaelin Kauf has been training most of her life for the Games. The 21-year-old from Alta, Wyoming, says she’s too busy trying to win gold to worry about North Korea. 

“There are people watching out for us,” she says. “My focus is perfecting my runs.”

Despite the political drama, South Korean officials say they’re prepared for the Games. All 12 Olympic venues—including six brand-new ones—were ready to go a month before the opening ceremony. South Korea has also stepped up security. They are running anti-terrorist drills and sending about 5,000 troops to the Games.

The preparations are putting Olympic athletes at ease. U.S. freestyle skier Jaelin Kauf has been training most of her life for the Games. The 21-year-old is from Alta, Wyoming. She says she’s too busy trying to win gold to worry about North Korea.

“There are people watching out for us,” she says. “My focus is perfecting my runs.”