At the 2018 Winter Games, all eyes are on North Korea鈥檚 athletes.
A deal struck in late January between the rival Koreas paved the way for the North鈥檚 participation in nearby Pyeongchang. While North Korea has been a regular fixture at the Summer Games, it has not participated in the Winter Olympics since sending a pair of athletes to Vancouver in 2010.
Lined with barbed wire and military checkpoints, the 248 kilometre-long, four kilometre-wide Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, has divided the Korean peninsula since 1953. And while Pyeongchang, South Korea is just a few hours鈥� drive from the heavily fortified border, it is a world away from its northern neighbour.
鈥淥ut of their limited boundary of their country or the boundaries of information they were brainwashed into and they see the real world and they might have a few more things to consider,鈥� tour guide Dongmin Goh, who guarded that border during the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, told 麻豆传媒.
North Korea will be participating in five events at the Pyeongchang games, fielding two figure skaters, two speed skaters, three cross-country skiers, three alpine skiers as well as 12 hockey players on a joint North and South Korean women鈥檚 team. Those 22 athletes are being accompanied by just as many North Korean government officials, who analysts say are there to keep tabs on the athletes as much as provide athletic support.
While high-profile North Korean defections have made headlines in recent years, the chances of one happening during these games are slim. There have been no known North Korean defections in the history of the Olympic Games, but more importantly, the country is thought to impose tough safeguards.
鈥淚f they were chosen to become a member of the athletes, at least one of their family members must have been detained in the government control鈥� to make sure they don't defect,鈥� South Korean political scientist Yoola Kim told 麻豆传媒.
North Korea鈥檚 hockey players arrived in the country on Jan. 25. They are being housed separately from their South Korean teammates.
When the rest of North Korea鈥檚 Olympic athletes arrived in South Korea on a chartered flight on Feb. 1, they came wearing round fur hats and long fur-trimmed trench coats: a uniform that seems taken right from behind the Iron Curtain, evoking the socialistic dynasty that has ruled their isolated country for the past seven decades. And while these athletes were bombarded with reporters鈥� questions after landing, none answered: setting the tone, perhaps, for their next few weeks in the capitalist South.
With a report from CTV's Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor Lisa LaFlamme
