It's not Olympics but Polympics

President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with North Korean special envoy Kim Yo-jong during her visit to Seoul. / Yonhap

By Oh Young-jin

Different from the case of NBC, the U.S. main Olympic broadcaster which mistook the host city, PyeongChang, as being in North Korea, there is a conspicuous reason that the quadrennial event in the South Korean city is not what is expected of a typical Olympics.

It deserves to be called "Polympics" with a capital P standing for politics of a complicated brand ― with fierce, divisive, unifying and confusing elements ― which may reset the existing order on the Korean Peninsula and affect the global one, as well.

The fierce element was made in plain sight when South Korea put all it had on the line and persuaded the United States and by extension Japan to delay the annual ROK-U.S. military drills that would have occurred during the Olympics. U.S. President Donald Trump reluctantly conceded to the combination of pleas and threats by President Moon Jae-in to delay the drills until after the PyeongChang Games.

Of course, there was little difference between pleas and threats, which boiled down to the fact that if the North was cajoled and given no piece of the action, it would play its game, spoil the Games and let the tension spiral out of control.
Then, there were the sacrifices expected from the South Korean female ice hockey players as the result of the formation of a joint team ― in terms of playing time and slots on the roster.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the PyeongChang Olympics opening ceremony. Behind them are North Korean special envoy Kim Yo-jong and its ceremonial leader Kim Yong-nam. / Yonhap

Now, the divisiveness is evident ― between Seoul and Washington. Trump tried to look magnanimous and gracious by pretending that he had accepted Moon's plea to allow inter-Korean contact. But it was not hard to imagine how bruised his ego was ― the leader of the world's supposedly most powerful country being swayed by leaders of the two Koreas.

The Pence disaster added insult to injury.

He was late for the pre-Olympic opening reception and avoided an encounter with the North Korean delegation ― Kim Yo-jong, the sister of its dictator Kim Jong-un, and ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam. The White House's explanation that Pence's tardiness was accidental wouldn't be given much credence since the U.S. vice president showed his dislike for the North Koreans in advance.

Even some American expats complained about the lack of grace in Pence's behavior.
The other side of the Pence brouhaha shows the unifying side of the Games. They say that he was ungentlemanly.

The nation was taken by surprise by Pyongyang's dispatch of its leader's younger sister to the opening ceremony. Even the most vocal critics of the North were silenced by Moon's call to treat the "valued visitors" with respect and warmth.

Many South Koreans' skepticism and dislike of the North has melted to a degree ― in their hearts, they feel a bond with North Koreans. Perhaps, that bond is weakening but this is something foreigners, especially westerners, find difficult to understand. How would the South warmly greet the North after what it has done ― killing millions in the 1950-1953 Korean War, followed by so many fatal skirmishes and death threats, some of which have been put into reality.

Then, even now the North has developed nuclear weapons and long-range missiles that threaten the U.S. mainland, increasing a potential nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula. Of course, they know they would be the first victims to bear the brunt of any war.

The North is, without a doubt, using its South Korea card to drive a wedge between the ROK-U.S. alliance with the ultimate goal of forcing Americans out of the South and unifying the South. That would be good news for China.

But the likelihood is that, nuclear weapons or not, the North could only make a stopgap measure to delay its ultimate demise. That is what the Moon administration understands and is certain of. The dilemma is that Americans don't agree and even if they agree, they can hardly give time to see whether it is true or not. One reason is the case of the old superpower paranoia ― doing nothing to change the world runs the risk of being seen as weakening.

Seoul and Washington should overcome their different senses of reality and necessity to make their alliance effective and maintain a unified stance against the North that strongly hopes that Moon will persuade Washington to stay put for a while as he tries to mail the date for the third inter-Korean summit. Even if there are additional cracks in the alliance, it is most likely that the U.S. and Trump will come to their senses and be more patient as they were with the pre-Games military drills.

What is being tested in the diplomatic warfare being unfurled on the peninsula is not just an effort by Seoul to tame the North but American fitness to remain the global leader. If the past serves as any guide, U.S. pragmatism would prevail.
Finally and hopefully, the confusing element will prove to be a state before equilibrium ― in this case peace.

So Polympics or Olympics, it is the same difference. After all, the ancient Olympics was about a truce that had all warring parties set their weapons aside and move their battleground to the sports arena. The PyeongChang Polympics is all about politics with the goal of bringing about lasting peace.

All the parties concerned have to do is to give peace a chance. But we know from history that that would be a difficult proposition in PyeongChang as it was during the ancient Olympiad. On second thought, P in Polympics could come to stand for peace if everything goes well.

Oh Young-jin (foolsdie5@ktimes.com, foolsdie@gmail.com) is the digital managing editor of The Korea Times.