Winter Olympics, Here We Go!

This Friday, February 9 is the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. This major sporting event brings together 2,925 athletes from 92 nations, including North Korea. As for Russia, whose Olympic Committee has been excluded from these Winter Olympics as a result of the doping scandal, 169 of its athletes are competing under the Olympic flag.

In an effort to re-establish their dialogue, the two Koreas had announced, on January 17, that their delegations would march under the same banner at the opening of the Winter Olympics. When we know that the year 2017 was the scene of several crises and tensions in the region (between the ballistic missile tests of the North Korean leader and the appalling tweets of the American president), these Winter Olympics have a symbolic significance in the eyes of the world. Should we see in this joint participation a diplomatic step towards an appeasement of relations between the two Koreas, who still officially at war?

To see our previous weekly editorials on international news, take a look here!