A warming of North-South Korean ties not a substitute for denuclearisation

When North Korean leader Kim Jong-un surprised the world by declaring that his nation was ready to join the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the international response was mixed.

It ranged from concerns, especially in Washington, that Mr Kim was trying to drive a wedge between South Korea and its American ally, to a sense of hope that the North's participation in the Games, as part of a unified Korean team, could create diplomatic momentum advancing a peaceful resolution of the nuclear crisis that has been threatening a war on the Korean Peninsula. Non-governmental, or "people-to-people", interactions in sport events can help reduce the tensions between enemy nations and may create a more conducive environment for diplomatic negotiations. Hence, Cold War tensions between the United States and communist China were lessened after the US table tennis team arrived in Beijing for a visit in 1971. The trip led to a renewed dialogue between the two nations, opening the door for then president Richard Nixon's own China visit in 1972.

So despite its initial reservations about Mr Kim's Olympics initiative, the Trump administration, responding to lobbying from Seoul, welcomed the idea. Washington even agreed to accept the North's demand to postpone joint South Korea-US military drills that were scheduled to take place during the Games. But the Trump administration has also insisted that the way Pyongyang behaved after the Olympics - and not the way its athletes performed during the Games - should and would determine its policy and that of the South vis-à-vis the North.