North Korea raises eyebrows once again
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — It seems a brazen choice, even for North Korea.
As South Korea’s president seeks to use the Olympics to improve ties, North Korea has chosen to send the alleged mastermind of two attacks that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010 to the games’ Closing Ceremony.
So, once again, South Korea’s first Winter Games offer up the possibility of the strangest of optics: That North Korean official, Kim Yong Chol, in the same television frame with U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter and adviser, Ivanka, who is also set to attend Sunday’s closer.
At the opening ceremony, vice president Mike Pence sat within feet of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, along with the country’s ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong Nam. The two sides made no apparent contact despite their proximity.
It’s not yet clear what the dynamics will be in the VIP box of Olympic Stadium this time around.
South Korea President Moon Jae-in is expected to meet with both sides ahead of the ceremony. But it seems highly unlikely that the U.S. and North Korea envoys will formally meet.
Kim is a vice chairman of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee, and also the head of the North Korean ruling party’s United Front Department, the body responsible for inter-Korean affairs.
Like many senior North Korea officials, he is sanctioned by Seoul and Washington over his links to the North’s banned nuclear weapons program. But it is his supposed connection to the bloodiest year in recent memory that strikes a nerve in the South.
Kim, who was formerly a top military official, used to head North Korea’s reconnaissance bureau, essentially the country’s anti-Seoul spy operations. It was in this role that Seoul officials have previously said he orchestrated the 2010 attacks.
A Seoul-led international panel said North Korea staged a torpedo attack on the South Korean warship Cheonan, a claim the North denies.
The sinking, which happened when the South Korean and U.S. militaries were conducting annual springtime military drills, killed 46 sailors. Eight months later, the North bombarded South Korea’s front-line Yeonpyeong island, killing two marines and two civilians. It was the first North Korean attack on a civilian area in South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Russian athlete fails drug test: A second Russian athlete failed a doping test at the Pyeongchang Games, a day before the International Olympic Committee’s executive board is to decide whether to reinstate the country for the Closing Ceremony.
Russian Bobsled Federation President Alexander Zubkov said a drug-test sample given by Nadezhda Sergeeva on Sunday was positive. The Russian delegation said in a statement the substance was trimetazidine, a medication used to treat angina. It affects metabolism and is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
The IOC said Friday it had been informed of the positive test by the Russian delegation.
Sergeeva’s crew finished 12th in the women’s bobsled Wednesday, after she had given the sample that later came back positive.
The Russian team was barred from the Olympics in December for doping at the 2014 Sochi Games, but the IOC invited 168 athletes from the country to compete under the Olympic flag. The IOC set out the criteria for Russia to be reinstated, and the latest doping cases are a setback.
U.S. medal projections: It was a sweeping goal, spelled out on a colorful, full-screen slide and presented to leaders of the U.S. Olympic Committee in a meeting last year. Sports executives in America targeted athletes on Team USA to win 37 medals at the Pyeongchang Games.
Heading into the final 48 hours of action, the United States had 21. Even if things were to go well over the handful of remaining events, the team will fall more than 10 medals short of the goal.
The information on the slide, obtained by the Associated Press, offers a slice of the data the USOC board uses to set expectations and approve funding for an upcoming Olympics. Providing resources to help athletes win medals at the Games is one of the federation’s foremost missions. It spends more than $60 million every four years, delivered from several revenue streams into a variety of programs, to fund winter sports.
The USOC’s chief of sport performance, Alan Ashley, acknowledged the 2018 team will not reach its goal, while also saying “we’re doing fine.” Snowboarder eyes comeback: An Austrian snowboarder who broke his neck in a crash at the Olympics last week is considering a return to the sport.
“It’s the easiest way to get healthy again,” Markus Schairer said about a possible comeback. “But it’s way too early to take that decision now.”
Schairer, 30, underwent surgery on the fractured fifth vertebrae in his neck in an Austrian hospital Monday, four days after he slammed into the snow on his back. He lost control in the air on the final jump of the downhill course during the snowboardcross quarterfinals. Ratings: An estimated 17.3 million people watched the Olympics on NBC, NBCSN or streaming services Thursday night, down 13 percent from the 20.3 million who watched the corresponding night in Sochi four years ago. The NBConly audience of 15.2 million was down 25 percent.
The conclusion of the women’s figure skating competition is usually one of a Winter Olympics’ big events, and this year featured a tense duel between Russians Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva. But a poor showing by the U.S. skaters eliminated a rooting interest for much of NBC’s audience.