Olympics

While sports may temporarily transcend divisions in society, events like the Olympics rarely serve to advance countries’ diplomatic aims.

South Korea hopes to solidify its image as modern and efficient as host of the winter games, but its success relies heavily on cooperation from the North.

The war of words between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in recent months has virtually drowned out the voice of South Korea, which has an existential stake in the avoidance of full-blown conflict on the Korean peninsula. But the opening inter-Korean peace talks in advance of South Korea’s hosting of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang next month have provided South Korean President Moon Jae In with a rare opportunity. To take full advantage, Moon must overcome his country’s geographically and geopolitically precarious position in between not only the United States and North Korea, but also constrained by regional rivalries between China on the one hand, and Japan and the United States on the other. Read more on The Hill.

High-level officials from North and South Korea met at the Peace House at Panmunjom today and successfully concluded an agreement in principle that would enable North Korea’s full participation in the Pyeongchang Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. North Korea decided to send a high-level delegation, Olympic committee delegation, athletes, cheering squad, cultural performance troupe, observation delegation, and press corps to the Pyeongchang Olympic Games. The two sides agreed to hold working-level talks to facilitate North Korea’s participation in the Winter Games. In order to do so, the South Korean government will have to suspend implementation of some UN Security Council sanctions that have been imposed on North Korea for its nuclear and missile development. The atmosphere between the negotiating teams of the two sides appeared to be cordial and professional. Both sides also agreed to promote reconciliation by easing military tensions to establish a peaceful environment for the games. The North Koreans agreed to re-establish a military hotline to address potential frictions in the West Sea where the two Koreas share a common border. They also pledged to address outstanding issues in inter-Korean relations through dialogue and negotiations. Today’s initial round of talks was confined to issues surrounding North Korea’s Olympic participation, but there were attempts to expand the agenda to broader Korean security issues. The South Korean side has proposed opening of talks next month on possible reunions of divided families, but the proposal has not yet been accepted by North Korea. The North Korean lead negotiator, Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the Committee Reunification of the Country, objected to media reports indicating that South Korea’s lead negotiator, Unification Minister Cho Myung-gyun, called for North Korea to return to denuclearization talks, arguing that North Korean nuclear capabilities are only targeted at the United States, not at South Korea, China, or Russia. South Korean lead negotiator Cho said that the North Korean delegation had acknowledged the U.S. and South Korean decision to delay military exercises until after the Olympics while requesting an additional delay. Cho indirectly acknowledged a general, but no detailed discussion of the status of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a joint complex in which South Korean companies provided capital and equipment while North Korea provided labor. That joint inter-Korean project had operated for over a decade until its closure in February of 2016 following North Korea’s fourth nuclear test. By opening inter-Korean talks and securing North Korean participation in the Pyeongchang Olympics, the Moon administration has taken a major step forward toward achieving an essential prerequisite for removing the pall cast by inter-Korean tensions over South Korea’s hosting of the Olympic games. North Korean cooperation to join the games as participants will be an enormously reassuring signal to athletes, officials, and spectators who might otherwise have hesitated to come to South Korea due to rising inter-Korean tensions. The talks themselves also serve as an unwelcome reminder both of North Korea’s capability to play the spoiler role, South Korea’s dependence on cooperation from North Korea to assert its accomplishments on the global stage, and the geopolitical fault lines that generate political risk around the Korean peninsula. The re-reestablishment of inter-Korean dialogue, for the time being, also opens communication lines with a self-isolated North Korea that has no other reliable channels of communication in crisis with the outside world. But whether this opening can be exploited to promote peace and security beyond the term of the Olympics games themselves—by forestalling and reversing the resumption of a trajectory toward conflict between the United States and North Korea punctuated by the resumption of U.S.-ROK military exercises and resumption of North Korean missile tests—remains to be seen.

Jongsoo Lee is senior managing director at Brock Securities and center associate at Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University. The opinions expressed here are solely his own. He can be followed on Twitter at @jameslee004. Kim Jong-un’s New Year address has given rise to a potential for improved inter-Korean relations. Though caution is necessary in dealing with Pyongyang’s peace overtures, Washington and Seoul should work together to leverage his overture in order to create an opening for de-escalation in the nuclear standoff between the United States and North Korea. It is understandable why Kim’s speech may be seen as anti-American and a ploy to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington. Indeed, what was surprising was his sudden ardent call for inter-Korean reconciliation, in contrast to his previous New Year addresses lacking in such a call. Kim devoted much time making his case that the way to peace on the Korean peninsula is through inter-Korean cooperation instead of relying on interventions by foreign powers. Kim named the United States repeatedly as the chief foreign power opposed to inter-Korean peace and reconciliation. For Washington to oppose the steps for inter-Korean dialogue underway in the wake of Kim’s speech would be to take Pyongyang’s bait and give credence to his narrative that Washington is an enemy, not a friend, of the Korean people. It is high time that the United States shattered the decades-old North Korean propaganda that America is the chief culprit behind Korea’s modern tragedies, including the partition of the peninsula after World War II, the ensuing Korean War, and the continuing division of the peninsula. For decades, the Pyongyang regime has been using this propaganda to indoctrinate and rally the North Korean masses behind its rule. Washington needs to start demonstrating by its words and actions that Kim’s narrative is deceptive. Supporting the inter-Korean dialogue could also provide a way out for the United States from the current nuclear standoff by weakening Kim’s self-defense rationale for his nuclear weapons program. Instead of obliging him in exchanging threats and taunts and further escalating tensions, thereby further fueling Pyongyang’s anti-American propaganda, the United States should offer peace initiatives to North Korea, demonstrating that Washington is not an existential threat and that it supports peaceful Korean reunification through inter-Korean dialogue. Washington has therefore made a step in the right direction by agreeing with Seoul in freezing their joint military exercises during the upcoming winter Olympics in South Korea. Indeed, the Olympics comes almost as a godsend in that it has provided the cover necessary for Pyongyang, Seoul, and Washington to call a truce and enter into a de-escalating mode, at least temporarily. Lastly, supporting the inter-Korean dialogue would not damage the U.S.-South Korea alliance. Washington and Seoul enjoy a strong alliance that is decades-old and has successfully weathered past North Korean provocations and charm offensives. As long as the allies remain in close coordination, they should be able to overcome any attempt to weaken their alliance. De-escalation may take the form of inter-Korean dialogue leading to trilateral talks between Seoul, Pyongyang, and Washington that discuss steps beyond the temporary halt of the joint military exercises such as more confidence-building measures aimed at inducing North Korea’s behavior as a responsible member of the international community and its eventual denuclearization. The global community should support this Olympic momentum for de-escalation. Failure to sustain this momentum would probably mean a relapse to a worsening crisis as joint military exercises resume in the spring and Pyongyang likely follows with more nuclear or missile testing.