South Koreans aren’t all keen on Olympic flag deal

North and South Korea are planning to parade together behind a single flag at the upcoming Olympics, but some South Koreans are wondering why their athletes cannot carry their own national flag during the first Winter Olympics on their soil.

SEOUL, South Korea — When athletes from the rival Koreas paraded together behind a single flag for the first time at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, it was a highly emotional event that came on a wave of hope for reconciliation following their leaders’ first-ever summit talks.

Eighteen years later, the Koreas are planning to do the same at next month’s Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea. But the plan hasn’t generated as much enthusiasm among South Koreans, with many conservatives asking why their athletes cannot carry their own national flag during the first Winter Olympics on their soil.

“We are turning the Pyeongchang Olympics that we’ve got into the Pyongyang Olympics,” said Hong Joon-pyo, leader of South Korea’s main conservative opposition party, referring to North Korea’s capital. “We are dancing to the tune of Kim Jong Un’s disguised peace offensive.”

A day earlier, the two Koreas reached a package of rapprochement deals, including marching together at the opening ceremony and fielding their first joint Olympic team, women’s ice hockey.

The agreements came after three rounds of talks that began after Kim said in a New Year’s speech that he was willing to send a delegation to the Feb. 9-25 Games.

Many critics are skeptical of Kim’s overture, believing he may be trying to use the Olympics to weaken U.S.-led international pressure and sanctions toughened after North Korea’s nuclear tests and missile launches last year.

Public surveys show most South Koreans support the North’s participation in the Olympics, a chance to create a tentative thaw in the Koreas’ longstrained relations.

But a poll released Thursday by the private polling group Realmeter suggests that half of South Koreans oppose a joint flag.

LEE JIN-MAN/AP The Winter Games being Feb. 9 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

AMY SANCETTA/AP 2006 Korean flag-bearers carry a unification flag in leading their teams into the stadium at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy. The Koreas again may carry one flag Feb. 9 at the Games.