MOSCOW (Sputnik) – About 800 people in Seoul took part in a protest on Saturday against North Korea’s participation in the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang and arrival of a delegation from Pyongyang, local media reported.
According to the Yonhap news agency, the conservative activists tore phones of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and tried to burn its national flags in front of the Deoksu Palace in central Seoul. The protesters also condemned South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who they consider to be too soft on North Korea.
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Earlier in the day, Moon held a meeting with the North Korean delegation headed by North’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam and the younger sister of the North’s leader, Kim Yo Jong, who had arrived in South Korea to attend the opening ceremony of 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang.
During the meeting, the sides expressed a common desire to preserve the atmosphere of peace and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula, which started jointly with the Olympics in Pyeongchang, and to intensify cooperation and dialogue between the North and the South.
The opening ceremony of the XXIII Winter Olympic Games took place at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium on Friday. The Games will last through February 25.
Participation of North Korea in the Olympics was however in question until Pyongyang and Seoul agreed in January that the two countries’ national teams would march together under a “unification flag” at the opening ceremony.
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The two sides also agreed that North Korea would participate in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, pair figure skating, and women’s ice hockey contests. For women’s ice hockey, the North will form a joint team with the South.
