Why South Korea’s Olympic overtures to Kim Jong-un will misfire in the long run

South Korea pushed itself to its outer limit in agreeing to its athletes marching with the North Koreans under the one-Korea flag at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. That’s because South Korean President Moon Jae-in sees these Olympics as an opportunity to advance his agenda of reconciliation and dialogue with North Korea. He prioritised that goal over showing off the Games as a celebration of the South as a modern nation and society. The result of this compromise was to turn the Olympics into a showcase for North Korean propaganda.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has played the Games for all they are worth. He had his younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, captivating the media at the opening weekend while cheerleaders, musicians, performers and taekwondo athletes starred on television. There could have been no greater public relations success for a regime that terrorises its people, keeps tens of thousands in concentration camps, orders torture and executions and, worst of all, squanders its resources on missiles and nuclear weapons while most of its 25 million citizens go hungry.

Americans have watched this display with mixed emotions. President Donald Trump made a pretence of total cooperation, refraining from criticism of the South Korean leadership. Trump had no choice. Any overt sign of unhappiness would only have provoked a firestorm of insults from America’s critics despite the doubts of millions of South Koreans about bowing to North Korea’s demands.

Probably the single most misguided aspect of North Korea’s participation was combining the North and South Korean women’s hockey sides into one team in which North Korea would have three of its players on the ice at all times. That might have been fine for exhibition games with the sole purpose of bringing North and South Koreans together but not for serious competition in which athletic skills, not political nonsense, are what counts.