PyeongChang Olympics begin

Kim Yuna, South Korea's first Olympic champion in figure skating, lights the Olympic Cauldron during the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Friday. / AP-Yonhap

The 2018 Olympic Winter Games kicked off in PyeongChang on Friday with an opening ceremony themed around peace and future. / Yonhap

PyeongChang Winter Games opening ceremony. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Joint Team Korea march together in Olympic Stadium

By Yi Whan-woo

The opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Friday, featured the theme, "Peace in Motion," with a cast of about 3,000 performers, the traditional parade, the hoisting of the Olympic flag and the lighting of the Olympic flame under a carefully scripted scenario.

But it was the unrehearsed joint parade of the two Koreas that possibly best expressed the theme of South Korea's first Winter Olympics. It started 30 years after the country's inaugural Olympiad in Seoul that Pyongyang attempted to ruin.

The joint delegation of 46 North Koreans and 219 South Koreans received thunderous applause from 35,000 spectators as they marched together inside the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium under a unified flag.

Among the athletes were 35 women's ice hockey players ― 23 South Koreans and 12 North Koreans ― from the first unified Korean Olympic team.

The athletes mingled together, smiling and waving blue-and-white Korean Peninsula flags as they paraded to "Arirang," a popular folk song in both Koreas, behind joint flag bearers.

Members of North Korea's cheering squad wave flags symbolizing the unified Korea during the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Friday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

A taekwondo athlete kicks wood boards during a demonstration ahead of the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Friday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Won Yun-jong in men's bobsleigh represented Seoul and Hwang Chung-gum in women's ice hockey marched for Pyongyang.

The ceremony of the 23rd Winter Olympiad featured a mix of the host country's rich traditions and history with its pop culture including K-pop that has emerged as a worldwide sensation.

Song Seung-hwan, the creative director of the opening and closing ceremonies, and top professionals in visual art, music, art, fashion, dance and other artistic fields have worked on Friday's ceremony for over two and a half years, according to the organizing committee.

The lighting ceremony of the Olympic flame, a big moment in the opening event, was partly spoiled after Reuters accidentally leaked photos of the torch-shaped cauldron at the main stadium last week.

But it kept some secrets until the last second as Kim Yuna, 2010 Olympic champion and 2014 silver medalist in ladies' singles figure skating, appeared as the final torchbearer and lit the cauldron.

She took over the Olympic flame jointly carried by two athletes of the unified women's hockey team ― Park Jong-ah of the South and Jong Su-hyun of the North.

President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook, front row second from left, pledge allegiance to the South Korean flag, along with other dignitaries during the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Friday. Among other participants are U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, front row second from right, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, front row right, Pence's wife Karen, front row center, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister Kim Yo-jong, back row second from left, and Pyongyang's Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly President Kim Yong-nam, back row left. / Yonhap

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President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with Kim Yo-jong, younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in the VIP box ahead of the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Friday. / Yonhap

President Moon Jae-in waves to spectators along with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach in the VIP box ahead of the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Friday. / Yonhap

President Moon Jae-in sits with first lady Kim Jung-sook in the VIP box. Behind them are Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea, and Kim Yo-jong, younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. / Yonhap

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence sits next to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the VIP box ahead of the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Friday. Behind them are Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea, and Kim Yo-jong, younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. / Yonhap

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence sits in front of Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea, and Kim Yo-jong, younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. / Yonhap

The Olympic parade of 2,920 athletes from 92 countries was a standard affair, but there were several showstoppers.

They included Tonga's Pita Taufatofua, a taekwondo practitioner who was shirtless and oiled up in traditional garb in 2016 when he carried the flag during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Taufatofua, who competes in men's cross-country skiing in PyeongChang, was again shirtless and oiled up as he carried the flag as the country's only athlete.

Tonga was one of the 18 countries represented by a single athlete. The others were Azerbaijan, Bermuda, Cyprus, Ecuador, Eritrea, Ghana, Hong Kong, Kenya, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Puerto Rico, San Marino, Singapore, South Africa and Timor-Leste.

From the U.S., Erin Hamlin, a 2014 Olympic bronze medalist in the women's single luge, led the record 241 athletes following a controversial coin toss to select the flag bearer.

She was the first American athlete to win an Olympic medal for singles luge.

Athletes of the two Koreas march together holding flags symbolizing the unified Korea during the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Friday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

The 2010 Olympic gold medal ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir jointly carried the flag for Canada. The country sent the second-largest number of athletes after the U.S. with 226.

Eight-time Olympian Noriaki Kasai represented Japan while biathlete Emil Svendsen carried Norway's flag and Nordic combined skier Eric Frenzel carried Germany's.

Svendsen won three Olympic golds and a silver in 2010 and 2014.

Frenzel won a gold and a silver in the 2014 Winter Games and a bronze in 2010.

Russian athletes entered the arena without their own flag, but under the Olympic flag as neutral athletes after the IOC banned Russia from the 2018 Winter Games over a doping scandal.

Lee Hee-beom, president of the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, was joined by President Moon Jae-in, IOC President Thomas Bach and other VIPs from 21 countries.

From North Korea were leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister Kim Yo-jong and Presidium of the Supreme People' Assembly President Kim Yong-nam.