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Koreas to form unified ice hockey team, march together in Olympics

By Hyonhee Shin and Christine Kim

 

FILE PHOTO: The PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games logo is seen at the the Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre in Pyeongchang, South Korea, September 27, 2017. REUTERS/Pawel Kopczynski/File Photo

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - The two Koreas will field a combined women's ice hockey team and march together under one flag at next month's Winter Olympics in the South, Seoul said on Wednesday, after a new round of talks amid a thaw in cross-border ties.

 

North and South Korea have been talking since last week - for the first time in more than two years - about the Olympics, offering a respite from a months-long standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes, although Japan urged caution over the North's "charm offensive".

 

The two Koreas will compete as a unified team in the Olympics for the first time, though they have joined forces at other international sports events before.

 

North Korea will send a delegation of more than 400, including 230 cheerleaders, 140 artists and 30 Taekwondo players for a demonstration, a joint press statement released by Seoul's Unification Ministry said, adding the precise number of athletes will be hammered out after discussions with the IOC scheduled for later this week.

 

Prior to the Games, the sides will carry out joint training for skiers at the North's Masik Pass resort and a cultural event at the Mount Kumgang resort, for which Seoul officials plan to visit the sites next week.

 

"Under the circumstances where inter-Korean (relations) are extremely strained, in fact just some 20 days ago we weren't expecting North Korea would participate in the Olympics", said Chun Hae-sung, the South's chief negotiator and vice unification minister.

 

"It would have a significant meaning if the South and North show reconciliation and unity, for example through a joint march".

 

The North Korean delegation will begin arriving in South Korea on Jan. 25, according to the joint statement.

 

The North will separately send a 150-strong delegation to the Paralympics, Chun said.

 

'IT'S NOT THE TIME'

 

Twenty nations meeting in the Canadian city of Vancouver agreed on Tuesday to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned the North it could trigger a military response if it did not choose dialogue.

 

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said the world should not be naive about North Korea's "charm offensive" over the Olympics.

"It is not the time to ease pressure, or to reward North Korea", Kono said. "The fact that North Korea is engaging in dialogue could be interpreted as proof that the sanctions are working."

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has refused to give up development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States in spite of increasingly severe U.N. sanctions, raising fears of a new war on the Korean peninsula. The North has fired test-fired missiles over Japan.

 

Earlier on Wednesday, state media warned the U.S. of "meddling" in inter-Korean issues at a time when it had to "mind its own destiny rushing headlong into self-destruction".

 

"The U.S. is miscalculating," the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary. "Although the U.S. makes desperate efforts to disturb peace while wielding a nuclear stick, it can not provoke us as long as we have the strong nuclear deterrent".

 

ICY RECEPTION

 

Seoul has proposed a joint ice hockey team, which triggered an angry response from athletes in the South suddenly being told they may have to play alongside total strangers.

 

"I don't know if it will happen, but a joint team will be a good opportunity for ice hockey to shed its sorrow as a less-preferred sport as many Koreans will take interest," South Korean President Moon Jae-in told players during a visit to a training centre.

 

The number of petitions to the presidential Blue House's website opposing a unified team shot up to more than 100 this week, with the most popular one garnering more than 17,000 votes.

 

"This isn't the same as gluing a broken plate together," said one of the signers.

 

The prospect of a combined team had long been unsettling for the South Korean players. As in most other winter sports, the South is much stronger than the North.

 

"Our players were really nervous," Sarah Murray, South Korean women's hockey head coach, told Reuters last month during the team's training swing through the United States.

 

"We can only take 23 players to the Olympics, and they thought these North Koreans are going to come in and take our spots", Murray said.

 

Chun, the South's lead delegate, said the decision on a united ice hockey team is not yet finalised, as it requires the consent of the IOC and related international body.

 

"We're well aware of the people's concerns and interests about this", he told a news conference.

 

"But I would like you to see the other side that it could make a positive contribution to peace of the Korean Peninsula and improving inter-Korean relations".

 

On Tuesday, the North said a 140-person orchestra would perform in South Korea during the Games. Pyongyang is also planning to send a large delegation in addition to the athletes and orchestra.

 

Paik Hak-soon, the director of the Centre for North Korean studies at Sejong Institute in South Korea, said North Korea was using the cheering squad to draw attention to its apparent cooperative spirit.

 

"Seeing good results in competitions thanks to the cheering squad would enable the North Koreans to say they contributed to a successful Olympics and the South Korean government would likely agree," said Paik.

 

"In the end, they are using this old tactic to get to Washington through Seoul."

 

Reclusive North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South, Japan and their major ally, the United States.

 

China, which did not attend the Vancouver meeting, said on Wednesday the gathering showed a Cold War mentality and would only undermine a settlement of the North Korea problem.

 

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Christine Kim; Additional reporting by Dan Burns in NEW YORK; Editing by Nick Macfie and Hugh Lawson)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-01-18

[cornishcarlos]

If the UN was serious about putting a stop to their nuclear program, banning them from taking part in the winter Olympics would be a good step.  The potential cheering squad would be pissed and so would the general population.  Might pressure the fat fella into proper talks ??

 

[RickBradford]

What the puck is going on?

[Emster23]

Unified team under one flag: but which flag? Make up a new one? May sound like a good idea on paper, but cobbling together a North-South hockey team? Who will coach? I imagine fights could break out, and not the typical ones on the ice. "I went to a hockey match and a game broke out"

[boomerangutang]

I like the idea.  using sports, music, arts & crafts, dance ....to unite people, works a lot better than old men in gray suits sitting around a table, scowling at each other. 

Trump doesn't even want the gray suits sitting at a table.  Remember, a few months ago, he chastized Tillerson for suggesting discussions?

 

Kim scores 1.  Trump scores zero.

[canuckamuck]

23 minutes ago, Emster23 said:

Unified team under one flag: but which flag? Make up a new one? May sound like a good idea on paper, but cobbling together a North-South hockey team? Who will coach? I imagine fights could break out, and not the typical ones on the ice. "I went to a hockey match and a game broke out"

I think the saying went like this: I went to a hockey fight and a game broke out.

 

Anyhow, Looks like Trump has succeeded in out swaggering the little fat man. Good to see some kind of talks occurring. As futile as a Korean hockey team would seem to be, think Jamaican bobsled. Would they have to play both national anthems if they won gold  

Edited January 18, 2018 by canuckamuck

[sanemax]

21 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

I like the idea.  using sports, music, arts & crafts, dance ....to unite people, works a lot better than old men in gray suits sitting around a table, scowling at each other. 

Trump doesn't even want the gray suits sitting at a table.  Remember, a few months ago, he chastized Tillerson for suggesting discussions?

 

Kim scores 1.  Trump scores zero.

Give it a rest about Trump and Tilerson and U.S. politics.

[Enoon]

31 minutes ago, Emster23 said:

Unified team under one flag: but which flag? Make up a new one? May sound like a good idea on paper, but cobbling together a North-South hockey team? Who will coach? I imagine fights could break out, and not the typical ones on the ice. "I went to a hockey match and a game broke out"

 

Probably the same one they have used in the past:

 

"The flag was first used in 1991 when the two countries competed as a single team in the 41st World Table Tennis Championships in Chiba, Japan and the 8th World Youth Football Championship in Lisbon, Portugal. The two countries' teams marched together under the flag in the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia; the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea; the 2003 Summer Universiade in Daegu, South Korea;^[2] the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece; the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy; and the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar; however, the two countries competed separately in sporting."

 

 

 

 

 

[Beats56]

Would be interesting to see the US women play against NK women. Would make for a lot of news.

 

[Scott]

Off-topic posts removed.  

[DM07]

Looks like a glimmer of hope to me!

[geriatrickid]

This is a BS move on the part of the  weak South Korean president. He's desperate to show his strategy of engagement is working. The cold reality is that the North is using this to play for time. It is the North's standard M.O. 

 

The worst part of this tragedy, is the absolute disrespect President Moon has shown for the  South Korean women's hockey team.  This is the only team that will be "mixed". Moon ordered that 7 south Korean women be dropped from the 30 person roster to make room for the unknown  (presumed) North Korean women.  He selected the women's eam because they do not have the same general support as the speed skaters, skiers etc. and  because they were women. He didn't dare do this to the men, because he's okay with pushing the women athletes around. it's sexism Korean style.

This is completely idiotic because anyone who  has ever played a team sport knows that it takes time to  have a team gel, to work with one another and to learn the plays and strategies.  Moon has told 7 women who worked hard, who earned their spots on the national roster, that, haha sorry, you just wasted 4 years of training,  go home. What a disrespectful move. The North Koreans will be given the right to supervise and  watch the 7 skaters who will join the South. So much for respecting the  human rights of all the players.

 

To those who applaud this hypocritical political show, this is why young people become resentful and apathetic. They work hard, follow the rules, do what they are told, only to get screwed over by the people who told them that being responsible and obedient was the key to success.  By all means, march as a unified group, however,  if they want a unified team, then let everyone qualify for it  and train together.  I will not be surprised if some players  refuse to participate in solidarity for team mates   cut for this political sham. Moon is weak and has made the same  mistake previous appeasers have made.  The North will soon be back to its missile firings.

 

 

 

 

 

[boomerangutang]

1 hour ago, geriatrickid said:

This is a BS move on the part of the  weak South Korean president. He's desperate to show his strategy of engagement is working. The cold reality is that the North is using this to play for time. It is the North's standard M.O. 

 

The worst part of this tragedy, is the absolute disrespect President Moon has shown for the  South Korean women's hockey team.  This is the only team that will be "mixed". Moon ordered that 7 south Korean women be dropped from the 30 person roster to make room for the unknown  (presumed) North Korean women.  He selected the women's eam because they do not have the same general support as the speed skaters, skiers etc. and  because they were women. He didn't dare do this to the men, because he's okay with pushing the women athletes around. it's sexism Korean style.

This is completely idiotic because anyone who  has ever played a team sport knows that it takes time to  have a team gel, to work with one another and to learn the plays and strategies.  Moon has told 7 women who worked hard, who earned their spots on the national roster, that, haha sorry, you just wasted 4 years of training,  go home. What a disrespectful move. The North Koreans will be given the right to supervise and  watch the 7 skaters who will join the South. So much for respecting the  human rights of all the players.

 

To those who applaud this hypocritical political show, this is why young people become resentful and apathetic. They work hard, follow the rules, do what they are told, only to get screwed over by the people who told them that being responsible and obedient was the key to success.  By all means, march as a unified group, however,  if they want a unified team, then let everyone qualify for it  and train together.  I will not be surprised if some players  refuse to participate in solidarity for team mates   cut for this political sham. Moon is weak and has made the same  mistake previous appeasers have made.  The North will soon be back to its missile firings.

Your point about some women getting demoted within the S.Korean team is interesting.  It's sad for those women. Yet, the overall issue of women from both sides of the DMZ competing together on the same team - is the bigger issue.  Looked at from the larger perspective, I applaud the move.

 

This may open the door for win-win scenarios like cooperating on music/dance groups, artistic and engineering endeavors.   Maybe folks from both sides can build the first solar powered boat and/or the first to be fabricated completely from re-cycled plastic.

 

....or a coordinated production of Hair - which takes off touring the world.

 

I spent a summer in Virginia as a counselor at a rural camp called Legacy.  It's director was a Jewish man named Rash.  His vision was to get Arab, Palestinian and Jewish youngsters together - in communal bunk houses, playing, doing sports, crafts, music, solving problems,  interacting.  Rash was successful, and the camp thrived.  There were other nationalities there also, including a few Saudis, Iranians, and Sudanese.  The best time to influence people is when they're young, and developing their ideas about the world.  

 

Similar could be done with the two Koreas.  But don't tell Trump, because he doesn't even want dialog. And mention of anything else, would be labeled 'fake news' by him.

 

 

[Jingthing]

Sad to say I'm a cynic about this Olympics show. It seems clear to me this is propaganda play from the North and buying time to develop their nuclear program. I think war is inevitable. I know that sounds dark but I think I understand the goals of the NK regime and those goals do not include peaceful coexistence. Would be thrilled to be proven wrong. 

Edited January 18, 2018 by Jingthing

[Trouble]

15 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

This is a BS move on the part of the  weak South Korean president. He's desperate to show his strategy of engagement is working. The cold reality is that the North is using this to play for time. It is the North's standard M.O. 

 

The worst part of this tragedy, is the absolute disrespect President Moon has shown for the  South Korean women's hockey team.  This is the only team that will be "mixed". Moon ordered that 7 south Korean women be dropped from the 30 person roster to make room for the unknown  (presumed) North Korean women.  He selected the women's eam because they do not have the same general support as the speed skaters, skiers etc. and  because they were women. He didn't dare do this to the men, because he's okay with pushing the women athletes around. it's sexism Korean style.

This is completely idiotic because anyone who  has ever played a team sport knows that it takes time to  have a team gel, to work with one another and to learn the plays and strategies.  Moon has told 7 women who worked hard, who earned their spots on the national roster, that, haha sorry, you just wasted 4 years of training,  go home. What a disrespectful move. The North Koreans will be given the right to supervise and  watch the 7 skaters who will join the South. So much for respecting the  human rights of all the players.

 

To those who applaud this hypocritical political show, this is why young people become resentful and apathetic. They work hard, follow the rules, do what they are told, only to get screwed over by the people who told them that being responsible and obedient was the key to success.  By all means, march as a unified group, however,  if they want a unified team, then let everyone qualify for it  and train together.  I will not be surprised if some players  refuse to participate in solidarity for team mates   cut for this political sham. Moon is weak and has made the same  mistake previous appeasers have made.  The North will soon be back to its missile firings.

Could not agree with you more.  You are right on the mark in this issue.

[Trouble]

9 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

Your point about some women getting demoted within the S.Korean team is interesting.  It's sad for those women. Yet, the overall issue of women from both sides of the DMZ competing together on the same team - is the bigger issue.  Looked at from the larger perspective, I applaud the move.

 

This may open the door for win-win scenarios like cooperating on music/dance groups, artistic and engineering endeavors.   Maybe folks from both sides can build the first solar powered boat and/or the first to be fabricated completely from re-cycled plastic.

 

....or a coordinated production of Hair - which takes off touring the world.

 

I spent a summer in Virginia as a counselor at a rural camp called Legacy.  It's director was a Jewish man named Rash.  His vision was to get Arab, Palestinian and Jewish youngsters together - in communal bunk houses, playing, doing sports, crafts, music, solving problems,  interacting.  Rash was successful, and the camp thrived.  There were other nationalities there also, including a few Saudis, Iranians, and Sudanese.  The best time to influence people is when they're young, and developing their ideas about the world.  

 

Similar could be done with the two Koreas.  But don't tell Trump, because he doesn't even want dialog. And mention of anything else, would be labeled 'fake news' by him.

 

 

Sorry but you don't seem to be in the real world.  In your mind it is okay to screw over one group of athletes for the "bigger picture" which will never come to fruition because this is nothing but politics.  The fact that South Korea even has a Unification Ministry is ludicrous. There will never be unification until the people of the North realize that they are not being well served by their government and seek change.  Being that the government of the North uses terror to keep the people in line, that is not likely to happen.  Both sides have tried various cooperative efforts mostly in the economic sector but the government in the North screws it up each time.  The idea of influence from the South or the outside world seeping into the North is a threat.  You can be sure any of the athletes, cheerleaders, coaches, etc. that will be traveling to the South will have their relatives held as hostages back in the North.  This is just another example of stupid politicians getting in the way.  When did you ever see a socialist/communist regime work to seek better cooperation unless it was to their advantage and at the expense of others?

[baboon]

9 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Sad to say I'm a cynic about this Olympics show. It seems clear to me this is propaganda play from the North and buying time to develop their nuclear program. I think war is inevitable. I know that sounds dark but I think I understand the goals of the NK regime and those goals do not include peaceful coexistence. Would be thrilled to be proven wrong. 

I do not understand your line of thinking: How will the Olympics buy them time? Surely they will carry on doing their thing anyway? It is a sporting event not a cage death match between nuclear scientists.

Any glimmer of hope is better than none at all, even if some athletes do lose out. Besides, why not take into account that the notion of 'My country must be better than yours because we won at...' is bloody ridiculous in the first place (in my opinion)? Peru beats Kazakhstan or the UK. So what? 

[Auriane]

I think it's a very good news