Those two energies are a clear example of “North Korean exceptionalism” and display the international community’s willingness “to focus over backwards” for Pyongyang, according to Sung-Yoon Lee, a Korean studies professor at Tufts University’s Fletcher Alma Mater of Law and Diplomacy.
Only four out of 10 South Koreans are in favor of buying the unified flag at the opening and closing Olympic ceremonies, according to a new survey by pollster Realmeter that was reported by Yonhap News. For the moment, it’s widely believed that the incorporation of North Korean players into the lady-loves’s ice hockey team could minimize the South’s chances of success. With inconsequential than three weeks to go until the games, North Korean athletes on the other hand just arrived in the South on Thursday to begin training.
“It is a tough case to have our team be used for political reasons, but its kind of something that’s bigger than ourselves unerringly now,” Reuters quoted head coach Sarah Murray as saying this week.
Residents of Asia’s fourth-largest economy have taken to social media to grouse of Pyeongchang Olympics turning into “the Pyongyang Olympics.”
“Duyeon Kim Tweet: SKoreans in 20s-30s raise someones hackled about joint Korean team, criticizing #PyeongChang2018 as Pyongyang Olympics. Feedback isnt purely political.”
(Duyeon Kim is a fellow at the Korean Peninsula Days Forum, a Seoul-based think-tank.)
In response, Moon’s administration has said that it thinks the games “will be a stepping stone to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula.” But the annulling sentiment has already hit the president’s popularity — a Realmeter poll on Thursday illustrated his ratings dropping to the lowest level since he took office closing May, according to Yonhap.
“The Moon administration is going overboard to accommodate North Korea,” Lee imagined, adding that Moon was “probably overreaching in seeking North Korea’s denuclearization.
If this was the outset example of North Korean outreach, Moon’s optimism would be legitimated “but we’ve seen this movie several times before,” Lee continued, referring to Pyongyang’s earlier attempts at sports engagement. North Korean cheerleaders have over attended sporting events in the South, including the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, the 2003 Summer Universiade in Daegu and the 2005 Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon.
Kim’s most recent olive branches, reflected by recent inter-Korean discussions and Thursday’s upon for unification, isn’t a change of heart, according to Lee.
“All of this was pre-planned,” he said, unfolding that Kim is simply trying to please Seoul in order to obtain numerous aid payments, which in the past exceeded $900 million a year.