North Korea praises the South’s reception at the Olympics — but will it last?
Seoul — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has praised the welcome the South gave his sister and said it was important to build on the Olympics-driven momentum for dialogue on the divided peninsula. Kim’s younger sister Kim Yo-jong — one of his closest confidantes — was part of the nuclear-armed North’s diplomatic delegation to the Games that made worldwide headlines. She delivered his invitation for the South’s President Moon Jae-in to come to a summit in Pyongyang — which he did not immediately accept, saying the "right conditions" were needed. The North is subject to multiple sets of UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, and conducted dozens of weapons tests last year. But the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang have triggered extraordinary scenes, with Moon and Kim cheering a unified Korean women’s ice hockey team together — along with the North’s ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam — and attending a concert by Pyongyang’s artistes. Even so,...
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