Korean unity emerges at Games
North and South athletes pictured in photograph shows possibility for peace
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA— A lot can be contained in a single selfie. The possibilities for peace between two entire nations, even.
A selfie taken by smiling North and South Korean skaters and posted on Instagram illustrates yet another moment of reconciliation between the rivals, whose decades-long animosities could easily erupt again after the Pyeongchang Olympics.
The South Korean pair of Kam Alex Kang-chan and Kim Kyu-eun shared the same ice with North Korea’s Kim Ju Sik and Ryom Tae Ok for the first time. Before training earlier this week, Kam and Kim Ju Sik used the same locker room and put on skates early so they had spare time together.
Then Kam, 22, proposed taking a selfie together. He called the 25-yearold Kim Ju Sik “hyeong,” a Korean term used to refer to an elder brother or friend.
“I said something like ‘Hey, Ju Sik hyeong, let’s take a photo together!’ ” Kam said after training Tuesday.
“I posted that photo for fun . . . and to mark the Olympics.”
The photo recalls a famous 2016 selfie taken by two North and South Korean gymnasts at the Rio Olympics — something that International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach described as a “great gesture.”
Similar amicable interactions are visible among the North and South Korean female hockey players, who have formed the rivals’ first joint Olympic team.
On Thursday, in another unusual spectacle, North Korea’s national anthem was played and its flag was hoisted alongside an Olympic flag during a boisterous welcoming ceremony for athletes from the North. South Korea has strict security laws that normally ban the playing of the North’s anthem and the raising of its flag.