North Korean athletes arrive in South for Winter Olympics
NORTH Korean athletes have arrived in the South where they’ll be bunking with their “enemy” for the next month at an athletes’ village that has already set a condom record.
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NORTH Korean athletes have arrived in South Korea ahead of the Winter Olympic Games where they’ll be “sleeping with the enemy” in a luxurious and modern athletes village.
The 32-member delegation led by North Korea’s sports minister includes 10 athletes who will compete in alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating and short-track speed skating events at the Pyeongchang Games.
Twelve women’s ice hockey players have already arrived in the South, practising for the unified Korean team they will play in.
The group arrived on Thursday and headed straight to the athletes’ village in Gangneung, where South Korean media reports local teams will be “sleeping with the enemy” by bunking with rival countries in the same apartment building.
Pictures of the exterior showed rival Swedish flags next to Korean banners outside. North Korean flags were also seen flying in the Olympic villages and stadiums at the venue amid excitement that the sports event could provide a respite from constant military tensions.
“It feels amazing (that they are coming),” said Choi So Eun, a college student who volunteered for translation and other work during the Olympics, after taking a selfie with a fellow volunteer under a North Korean flag at the Gangneung athletes’ village.
“I thought only high-level officials in South Korea could see a North Korean in person, but I think I can see them here so I’m excited,” Choi said.
Another volunteer, Choi Sangyoung, said he hopes the Olympics will help ease animosities between the rivals and lead them in a “peaceful and good” direction.
In addition to the athletes, a 230-member cheer group and 140-member art troupe will arrive next week. North and South Korea will wear the same uniforms and jointly march under a “unification” flag during the opening ceremony.
While plenty of records are expected to be set on the snow and ice, the Games have already set a new bar for the largest number of condoms handed out.
Organisers will give away 110,000 condoms during the event — an average of 37 per athlete — which will be placed around the men’s and women’s toilets, the media centre and medical area.
Convenience Co has donated 100,000 of the condoms, saying it did so for “a successful hosting of the Winter Olympics and the prevention of the spread of the HIV virus”.
But spokesman Chung Geun-Sik said many of them would be taken home unopened as souvenirs.
“We don’t expect the athletes to use them all,” he said.
Not all South Koreans are thrilled about the arrival of the North Koreans.
Activists last week staged protests ahead of the start of the Olympics, tearing up photos of Kim Jong-un.
The protests came after the North warned such actions could derail reconciliation efforts around the Winter Olympics.
Activists accused the South Korean government of swallowing the North’s propaganda, with Pyongyang calling them “human rejects” and “living corpses.”
Originally published as North Korean athletes arrive in South for Winter Olympics
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