SEOUL: With the Koreas, there’s no separating their sports from their politics.

The war-separated rivals will take their reconciliation steps to the Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia, where they will jointly march in the opening ceremony and field combined teams in basketball, rowing and canoeing.

“Sports have played the role of peacemaker between the Koreas,” said Kim Seong-jo, vice chairman of South Korea’s Olympic committee and the country’s chef de mission at the Asian Games. “If the combined teams put out good performances and win medals, that would be putting the cherry on the top.”

North and South Korea have used sports diplomacy this year in a bid to decrease animosity and initiate a new round of global diplomatic efforts to resolve the nuclear standoff with Pyongyang.

South Korea leaders consider goodwill gestures as crucial to keep the positive atmosphere alive for what could become a long and difficult attempt to persuade the North to give up its nuclear and missile programs.

In the opening ceremony in Jakarta, athletes from North and South Korea will parade together under the flag featuring a blue map that symbolized a unified Korean Peninsula. It will be virtual repeat of the joint march during February’s Winter Olympics in the South Korean ski resort of Pyeongchang, minus the gloves, parkas and fur hats.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2018