Winter Olympics 2018: more politics than sports?

The Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea next month will offer an impressive spectacle of sporting prowess but the event could be overshadowed by politics.

North Korea is considering sending athletes to the Games, with much depending on talks in so-called truce village Panmunjom tomorrow, when officials from North and South Korea will sit down together for the first time in two years. Two North Korean athletes have qualified - figure skaters Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik - but Pyongyang did not confirm their slot by the 30 November deadline, Reuters reports.

The stated aim of Tuesday’s meeting is to “discuss whether North Korea sends a delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics”, says North Korea expert Michael Madden in an article for the BBC, but the talks may also be used to resolve political tension. “While their attendance wouldn’t resolve the long-standing crisis on the Korean Peninsula, it would, as both sides have said, be a gesture of peace.”

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Nuclear tension

Tension has been building for months over Pyongyang’s nuclear and weapons programme. The Daily Telegraph speculates that tomorrow’s “possible agenda items could include the delegation’s travel routes, financial costs, and whether the two Koreas, who are still technically at war, would march together under a unified flag at the opening and closing ceremonies”.

The US plans to postpone its joint military exercises with South Korea during the Games, to “de-conflict” the Olympics and to focus on the security of the sporting event, Yonhap News Agency reports.

Although UN ambassador Nikki Haley hinted in December that American athletes might skip the Pyeongchang Olympics because of tensions in North Korea, the US is expected to send a delegation.

The Guardian says the US may even have an advantage at the event, “given that Russia have been banned from competing”.

Russia ban

Unlike North Korea, Russia will be noticable by its absence. In what Business Insider calls an “unprecedented punishment”, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) slapped a ban on Russia last month over a doping scandal.

The fallout will be “far-reaching”, says Newsweek. Although some “clean” Russian athletes may still compete, they will not be able to wear their national colours or march behind their flag.

“Every competition will be affected by the absence of Russian athletes, and every national team will be under greater scrutiny for any hint of cheating or trying to gain an unfair advantage,” Newsweek adds.

South Korea may also feel the financial effects if the ban on Russia translates into fewer Russian tourist dollars spent in Pyeongchang.

Vladimir Putin has described the IOC’s decision as “absolutely staged and politically motivated”, reports The Strait Times.