http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/09\/29\/sport\/north-korea-2018-winter-olympics-figure-skating\/index.html<\/p>\n
(CNN) \u2014 On Friday afternoon, in the small Bavarian ski-town of
\nOberstdorf, figure skaters Ryom Tae-Ok and Kim Ju-sik
\nbecame the first North Korean athletes to qualify for South
\nKorea’s 2018 Winter Olympics — a development that could
\nhave diplomatic implications as well as sporting ones.
\nThe pair — who perform to the music of The Beatles and have
\nbeen training in Canada — produced an impressive free-skate
\nperformance to secure one of the final Olympic spots up for
\ngrabs at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany.
\nRyom, 18, and 25-year-old Kim finished 15th at the World Championships last season and spent the summer
\ntraining in Montreal under French coach, Bruno Marcotte.
\nTheir qualification will be welcome news to South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in, who earlier this month told CNN
\nthat North Korean participation in PyeongChang will “provide a very good opportunity for inter-Korean peace and
\nreconciliation.”
\nREAD: Playing football under the missiles
\nREAD: South Korea hopes Games provide ‘inter-Korean peace’
\nFollow @cnnsport
\nSports + Live TV
\n10\/5\/2017 North Korean figure skaters Ryom Tae-Ok and Kim Ju-sik qualify for 2018 Winter Olympics – CNN
\nhttp:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/09\/29\/sport\/north-korea-2018-winter-olympics-figure-skating\/index.html 2\/3
\n2018 Winter Olympics
\nFor more CNN coverage of the 2018 Winter
\nOlympics, go to cnn.com\/olympics
\nREAD: Playing football under the missiles
\nREAD: South Korea hopes Games provide ‘inter-Korean peace’
\nTensions in the region have been heightened since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent two ballistic missiles
\nover Japan and also set o
\nhis sixth, most powerful nuclear test on September 3.
\nPresident Donald Trump has also warned that the US will rain “fire and fury” on North Korea if it kept up its threats
\nagainst America and its allies.
\nThe Winter Olympics begin in February just 40 miles from the
\ndemilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea and
\nthe International Olympic Committee (IOC) has repeatedly
\nstressed how keen it is to have North Korea take part.
\nIn fact, the IOC has been supporting several North Korean
\nathletes in their attempts to qualify — providing them with
\nequipment, travel and accommodation — and also talked
\nabout the possibility of granting wild cards.
\nNorth Korean speed skaters and Nordic skiers still have the chance to qualify, but even if they do make the grade
\nthere is no guarantee they will make it to PyeongChang.
\nVisit CNN.com\/sport for more news and features
\nThe final decision rest with the North Korea Olympic Committee, who boycotted the summer Olympics in Seoul 30
\nyears ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/09\/29\/sport\/north-korea-2018-winter-olympics-figure-skating\/index.html (CNN) \u2014 On Friday afternoon, in the small Bavarian ski-town of Oberstdorf, figure skaters Ryom Tae-Ok and Kim Ju-sik became the first North Korean athletes to qualify for South Korea’s 2018 Winter Olympics — a development that could have diplomatic implications as well as sporting ones. The pair — who perform to the music of The Beatles and have… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":792,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions\/792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}