Can Olympics turn around Korean tensions in 2018?

COULD next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea deliver an unexpected geopolitical dividend? The recent mini-rapprochement between North Korea and the South indicates it might.

Pyongyang confirmed on Tuesday that it will send athletes and cheerleaders to the Games in PyeongChang next month after the nation's first high-level, bilateral talks with Seoul in two years. The latter said that it will temporarily lift sanctions to allow the former to attend the Olympics which open on Feb 9.

The warming began with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's New Year message that the Olympics would be a "good opportunity to show unity of the people". He also spoke of potentially melting "frozen Nort…