Winter Games get underway
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — In an extraordinary show of unexpected unity, North and South Korea sat side by side Friday night under exploding fireworks that represented peace, not destruction, as the 2018 Winter Olympics opened on a Korean Peninsula riven by generations of anger, suspicion and bloodshed.
The sister of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, shook hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in — and appeared genuinely pleased — while they watched an elaborate show of light, sound and human performance. Minutes later came a moment stunning in its optics and its implications: the United States, represented by Vice President Mike Pence, sitting a row ahead of Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, and the North’s nominal head of state, all watching the games begin — officials from two nations that many worry have been on the brink of nuclear conflict.
Not long after, North and South Korean athletes entered Olympic Stadium together, waving flags showing a unified Korea — the longtime dream, in theory at least, of many Koreans both North and South. It was the rivals’ first joint Olympic march since 2007.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach then handed the podium to Moon, who declared the Olympics officially open.
The ceremony’s signature moment delivered another flash of unity and deft political stagemanaging, too. Two athletes from the joint Koreas women’s hockey team climbed stairs to the cauldron with the Olympic torch.
At the last moment, though, they handed off the flame to former Olympic champion figure skater Yuna Kim, arguably South Korea’s most famous person. She actually lit the cauldron as the home crowd roared.
Moon, in a statement, said athletes from North and South will “work together for victory.” And Bach lauded the joint march of the two Koreas as a “powerful message.”
“We are all touched by this wonderful gesture. We all join and support you in your message of peace,” Bach said.