North and South Korea unite for the Winter games
By Katie Chong, ’18
This year’s 2018 Winter Olympics is set to be hosted by South Korea in the city of Pyeongchang. Pre-Olympic drama has been dominated by talk of South Korea’s northern neighbor participating in the Olympics.
Tensions between North Korea and South Korea have been evident ever since the conclusion of the Korean War over 60 years ago. After the establishment of the 39th Parallel, communication between the two countries have been characterized by military confrontations.
However, on Jan. 9, officials from both countries met for the first time in two years in the village of Panmunjom in South Korea. After months of meetings, the two countries decided that they will be represented in the same team under a united flag.
The two countries had previously used the united flag on rare occasions, just as they combined in the 2006 Winter Games in Italy. Although the peace talks seem to be slowly thawing tensions, only time will tell if the Olympics will be able to bring together a divided nation.