North Korea's Paralympic presence raises eyebrows as winter games open

The Paralympics opens on Friday in Pyeongchang in what will be the largest winter Games to date, with 240 medals up for grabs and North Korea making its debut, part of a wider cooling of tensions.

The Games will run over 10 days and 670 athletes will compete, over 100 more than in Sochi four years ago, across six sports: para Alpine skiing, para biathlon, para cross-country skiing, sleigh hockey, para snowboarding and wheelchair curling.

All eyes will likely be on the North Korean athletes who arrived on Wednesday as part of a 24-member delegation. It will be the first time North Korea has participated in the Winter Paralympics. It sent just one athlete to the summer edition in London and two to the Games in Rio de Janeiro. Six athletes have travelled to Pyeongchang, but only two will actually compete, both in Nordic skiing events.

However, South and North Korea will not march together at the opening ceremony of the Winter Paralympics, as they did at the Olympics last month, because they cannot agree on a united flag that erases islands disputed with Japan, officials said.


Source : theguardian