By Shreya Kashyap
The 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea have been a turning point in diplomatic relations between the two warring nations on the Peninsula. Having been at loggerheads since the end of World War II, the games mark the first time that both North and South Korea have competed with a unified Olympic team. Despite the unified Korean ice hockey team exiting the games without a win, their symbolic victory was more consequential, raising hopes for the possibility of a unification of the two Koreas.
The history of Korean Olympic diplomacy
At previous Olympic games in 2000, 2004 and 2006, athletes from the two Koreas participated separately, despite participating at the opening ceremony as a single group. At any event where the two Koreas have shown a unified face, they have done so under the Unification Flag, commonly known as COR. It depicts the Korean peninsula as blue in a sea of white that symbolises peace.
As the games put Korean politics back in the spotlight, it is high time to look at how this idea of a unified team took shape. In his New Year’s address on the 1st of January 2018, North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un proposed holding talks in Seoul regarding the North’s participation in the games. High-level talks between the two nations took place on the 9th of January, the first in over two years. Successful talks led to the North fielding athletes in the games and were followed by the announcement of a unified Korean women’s ice hockey team at Pyeongchang on the 17th of January 2018. On the same day, it was announced that the two Koreas would enter the opening ceremony together under the Korean Unification Flag.
However, this unanticipated warmth was not received well by the South Korean media and the public, as protests and online petitions by South Koreans showed. “The regret for Pyeongchang”, a rap video echoing the sentiment that the centre-left South Korean government under Moon Jae-in is attempting to use the Olympics to spread pro-North sentiments, is going viral in South Korea.
Scepticism of the North in the South
South Koreans have responded with scepticism to the visit of Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korea’s leader, as they felt that this was yet more political propaganda by the North. This mingling of propaganda with sports has left South Koreans with mixed emotions. Jong’s position as the head of North Korea’s Department of Propaganda and Agitation does not help. However, some are still optimistic—they see this as an opportunity for the two countries to get over their bitter past.
So, are there solid changes of a re-unification amidst all of this political show? Moon Jae-in shook hands with Kim Yo-jong at the start of the Winter Olympics, marking the first time since the Korean war that a member of the ruling Kim dynasty in the North has visited South Korea. After Kim Jong-un’s New Year address, frosty relations between the two countries seemed to be thawing, with major diplomatic breakthroughs.
North Korea reopened a border hotline, commonly known as the Seoul-Pyongyang hotline, with South Korea on the 3rd of January 2018. This is an important channel of direct communication between the two nations. Adding to the hopes of a rapprochement is a rumour that the two Koreas are planning to conduct the Asian games together in 2021, with Kim Jong-un claiming that these games could use the ski resort of Masikryong in the North.
Past attempts to ease tensions
Goodwill generated by similar efforts by the two countries in the past began to dissipate in the early 90s due to disagreements over North Korea’s nuclear program. This led to the Agreed Framework between the US and North Korea in 1994. With North Korea’s aggressive ballistic and nuclear program and a series of sanctions against it from the West, hopes of a possible reunification seemed to be slim.
As North Korea is pushed into an economic blockade, it is seeking warmer relations with its southern neighbour and going to great lengths to ensure that it does not face complete isolation. With Moon Jae-in’s election as South Korean President over a series of promises to return to the previous ‘Sunshine Policy’, it would seem that agreeing to the North’s cooperation with his government is a good way for Jaen-in to fulfil his mandate.
The original Sunshine Policy was named after one of Aesop’s fables and is grounded in the traditional Korean way of dealing with enemies by “giving them gifts to prevent them from causing harm.” The policy, which emerged in the context of a growing economic gap between the two countries, is quite relevant again today as South Korea continues to grow and North Korea is pushed towards famine as a result of sanctions.
Distrust of the Sunshine Policy
However, as part of US President Donald Trump’s determination not to let this growing warmth lead to anything substantial, Vice President Mike Pence met North Korean defectors the same day Kim Yo-Jung met with South Korean government officials. The US is sending many clear signs of its displeasure over this shift in dynamics between North and South Korea. The announcement of the ‘toughest sanctions yet’ against North Korea by Donald Trump is clear proof of quick action by the United States against any rapprochement. However, with Trump’s erratic decision making and low credibility, the two countries may still look forward to further attempts at fostering warm relations.
Nevertheless, critics in South Korea and the country’s opposition have labelled the Pyeongchang Olympics the ‘Pyongyang Olympics’ over concerns that North Korea has hijacked the games. Moon’s approval rating has fallen to a four-month low of 66%. Senior fellows at South Korean think tanks are also echoing these sentiments.
In addition, many countries have voiced their concern, with Japan’s foreign affairs minister Taro Kono warning South Korea to be wary of North Korea’s charm offensive and advised it not to ease its pressure on the nuclear-armed country. Full reunification remains a pipe-dream for now, however, more limited acts, such as the reunification of divided families across the border, cannot be ruled out.
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