South Korea Makes Olympic Exception for North Korean Flag

(ATR) South Korean authorities will ignore a law that forbids raising the North Korean flag during the Winter Olympics that begin Feb. 9 in PyeongChang.

According to Yonhap, Organizers of the Games will begin to raise the North Korean flag at competition venues and the Olympic Village on Feb. 1.

The raising of the flag violates a South Korean national security law that seeks to limit or dissuade pro-communist actions or demonstrations. The flags will not be raised by South Korean soldiers due to the decades-long conflict between the two countries. The North Korean flags will instead be raised by volunteers.

The 10 North Korean athletes not included on the joint Korean women’s hockey team will arrive at the village on Thursday and see their flag waving along with the other 92 countries participating in the Games.

The 12 North Korean women’s hockey players arrived in South Korea via a land route on Jan. 25 to begin training for the Olympic tournament with their new South Korean teammates. The other 10 athletes will reportedly take a chartered airplane to South Korea on Feb. 1 following the joint training session at the Masikryong Ski Resort with South and North Korean skiers.

The air travel restriction of North Koreans to South Korea was lifted by the United States government after a request from South Korean leaders to facilitate the inter-Korean Olympic initiatives.

The South Korean ski delegation brought 45 members that arrived at the ski resort via an Asiana Airlines jet. The same aircraft will ferry the South Koreans along with 32 North Koreans to South Korea for the Games that begin next week.

Russia CAS Rulings Inbound

The Court of Arbitration for Sport will rule on the cases of 39 Russian athletes who have been banned from the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics on Feb. 1.

The International Olympic Committee accused each of the athletes of being complicit in the Russian doping scheme that swapped tainted urine samples at the Sochi anti-doping laboratory with clean samples during the Sochi 2014 Olympics.

All of the athletes had their medals and certificates earned at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games stripped following the IOC disqualification and suspension.

Any reversals of the IOC decision could increase Russia’s athlete count at the Winter Olympics in South Korea. The IOC has cleared 169 Russians as eligible to compete in the PyeongChang 2018 Games under the title "Olympic Athletes from Russia".

The CAS decision is expected to be announced at the PyeongChang 2018 Main Press Center tomorrow afternoon.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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