The Korean Olympics kлick off as Korean athletes unite at opening event

Reportedly V.P. Pence refused to shake hands with the North Korean delegation or stand for anyone except the Americans.

Korean athletes unite at Olympic ceremony

Radio NZ,

10 February, 2018

The Winter Olympics sparked to life in a vivid, colourful ceremony of fire and ice in South Korea - and the diplomacy was just as choreographed.

In the stadium, leaders from nations that are sworn enemies sat close together and in the stadium South and North Korean atheles marched together.

The Olympic flame is lit to a background of fireworks at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games opening ceremony. Photo: AFP

South Korea, which is using the Pyeongchang Games to break the ice with North Korea, seated its presidential couple alongside US Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, with two of the North's most senior officials sitting in the row behind.

President Moon Jae-in, who wants to harness the Olympic spirit to pave the way for talks over the North's weapons programme, warmly shook hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's smiling sister, Kim Yo Jong, as well as the North's nominal head of state.

Kim Jong Un's sister Kim Yo Jong, (2nd left) shakes hands with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in during the opening ceremony. Photo: AFP

The South is still technically at war with the North after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, and the United States and North Korea have recently swapped nuclear threats. Mr Pence vowed only this week to tighten sanctions on the North.

Underlining President Moon's efforts to re-engage with the North, the opening ceremony followed the story line of children wandering through a mythical landscape and discovering a world where people live in peace and harmony.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach told the crowd that by allowing their athletes to march together under one flag at the ceremony, North and South Korea had shown sport's "unique power" to unite people.

"All the athletes around me, all the spectators here in the stadium, and all Olympic fans watching around the world ... we are all touched by this wonderful gesture," he said.

North and South Korean flagbearers wave to the crowd. Photo: AFP

The Olympics have provided some respite from years of tense relations between 

Seoul and Pyongyang, though just hours before the ceremony hundreds of anti-North Korean protesters scuffled with riot police outside the stadium, burning North Korean flags and pictures of its leader, Kim Jong Un.

South Korea's freezing February, where temperatures have plummeted to minus 20 degrees Celsius at night, has come as a shock to the system for athletes and visitors alike in the leadup to these Games, prompting concerns about hypothermia at the opening ceremony.

The weather was a little milder than feared on Friday, but spectators still huddled near heaters, holding hot packs and slurping down steaming fishcake soup to ward off the chills.

According to Olympic tradition, the Greek contingent headed the parade of athletes into the open-air stadium, followed by the other delegations in order according to the Korean alphabet.

Mr Pence stood to welcome the US athletes as the Korean pop hit Gangnam Style blared around the stadium, sparking the 'Horse Dance' in the crowd and among the volunteers.

The moment failed to elicit even a smile from the two senior North Korean officials in the VIPs box, however, as they sat stony-faced in black fluffy hats and long coats.

Tonga's flagbearer Pita Taufatofua leads his country's delegation. Photo: AFP

New Zealand freestyle skier Beau James Wells, clad in the flagbearer's traditional cloak Te Mahutonga, led a 32-strong Kiwi contingent of athletes and officials in the stadium

As the athletes made their way around the track, one of the biggest cheers was reserved for muscle-bound Tongan Pita Taufatofua, who repeated his famed Rio Games entrance by marching in shirtless, oiled up and wearing a traditional skirt -- this time in sub-zero temperatures.

Later, the crowd erupted as athletes from North and South Korea marched together under the unification flag for the first time at an Olympics since 2006.

"It was incredible," spectator Eim Young-joo said.

North Korean cheerleaders greeted the athletes by waving a controversial version of the flag depicting disputed islands known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese.

Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Norio Maruyama said he had not seen the flag so he did not want to comment.

Elsewhere in the stadium, a Kim Jong Un impersonator was not made as welcome as the North Koreans in the VIP box and was ejected by security. "Well is my sister getting the same treatment?" he demanded to know.

As the ceremony neared an end, the Olympic flame was carried by a succession of Korean sporting heroes including 2016 Rio Games golf champion Park In-bee and soccer player Ahn Jung-hwan, who scored the winning goal against Italy at the 2002 World Cup.

It finally found its way to figure skating star Kim Yuna, who won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games and silver in Sochi four years later.

Kim, who travelled the world as a Games ambassador in the run-up to Pyeongchang, performed a short skating routine before sending flames shooting up to light the cauldron.