SEOUL: North Korea plans to send a 230-member cheering squad to South Korea as part of its delegation to next month’s Winter Olympics, Seoul officials said Wednesday, the latest in a series of conciliatory gestures the North has abruptly taken recently following a year of heightened nuclear tension.
North Korea informed South Korea of the size of its Olympic cheering squad when officials from the rivals met at the border for the third time in less than 10 days to discuss how to cooperate in the Olympics.
A flurry of Olympics-related meetings has provided a tentative thaw in long-strained ties between the Koreas. But the North’s reluctance to discuss its nuclear weapons program is raising skepticism over how long this mood of reconciliation will last.
During Wednesday’s talks, the North also told South Korea that it has a plan to send a delegation to the Pyeongchang Paralympics set for March 9-18, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said in a statement. A detailed makeup of the North Korean Paralympics delegation will be determined in further talks between the Koreas, it said.
The Koreas also discussed fielding a joint women’s hockey team and having their athletes march under a “unification flag” depicting the Korean Peninsula, instead of their respective national flags, during the opening ceremony for the February 9-25 Games in Pyeongchang, the ministry statement said.
It said North Korea proposed its Olympic delegation travel to south across the heavily fortified land border. Such a border crossing would be a highly emotional event garnering global attention.
The North has said its delegation would also include high-level officials, journalists, a taekwondo demonstration team and an art troupe along with athletes. On Monday, the two Koreas agreed that a 140-member North Korean art troupe comprising orchestra members, singers and dancers would perform in the South during the Games.
Despite its plans to send big cheering and artistic groups, no North Korean athletes are currently officially qualified to come to Pyeongchang though the Intentional Olympic Committee recently said it has “kept the door open” for North Korea to take part in the games.
Some critics say the North may be trying to use the Olympics as a chance to launch what they call “peace offensive” to show it’s a normal country despite pursuing nuclear weapons. They also accuse Pyongyang of trying to divide Seoul and Washington to weaken international sanctions and buy time to perfect its nuclear weapons.
The International Olympic Committee is to meet with sports and government officials from the two Koreas and officials from the Pyeongchang organizing committee at its headquarters in Switzerland on Saturday.
A pair of North Korean figure skaters qualified for the Olympics, but North Korea missed a deadline to confirm their participation. The IOC said recently it has “kept the door open” for North Korea to take part in the games.
South Korea also wants the IOC to allow the hockey team’s 23-player Olympic roster to be expanded so that several North Korean players can be added without removing any of the South Korean players. If a joint hockey squad is realized, it would be the Koreas’ first unified team in an Olympics.
There are still worries in South Korea that adding new players less than a month before the Olympics would eventually weaken the team power and deprive South Korean players of due playing time.
“Adding somebody so close to the Olympics is a little bit dangerous just for team chemistry because the girls have been together for so long,” Sarah Murray, the South Korea women hockey team’s head coach, told reporters Tuesday, according to Yonhap news agency. “I think there is damage to our players.”
North Korea to send 230-member cheering squad in Winter Olympics
North Korea to send 230-member cheering squad in Winter Olympics
Three LIV Golf wild card spots up for grabs in Florida
- Total of 22 players advance to weekend action, with chance to join 2026 LIV Golf League season
LECANTO, FLORIDA: While South Korea’s Jeunghun Wang and others at the top of Friday’s leaderboard at LIV Golf Promotions advanced comfortably into the weekend at Black Diamond Ranch, former wild card player Anthony Kim faced an 8-foot birdie putt to decide his fate on the final hole.
Kim rolled in the putt, arguably his biggest clutch moment in the two years since returning to pro golf from a 12-year retirement, to shoot a 1-under 69 and make the cut on the number.
A total of 22 players among the field of 47 in the second round moved on to compete for the three open wild card positions for the 2026 LIV Golf League season. Scores will now reset for the final 36 holes.
Kim is one of seven players Friday to sneak in on the number and is the only remaining American of the 12 who started the week in the field. His final birdie at the par-4 18th capped off a rollercoaster finish that included a chip-in to save par at the 13th hole after his tee shot found the water, along with bounce-back birdies after each of the two bogeys he made in the final five holes.
“We can talk about rollercoasters on the round today, but my life has been a pretty big rollercoaster, so this is pretty smooth for me,” said the 40-year-old Kim, who was exempt into the second round after suffering relegation on LIV Golf last season.
Another former LIV Golf player, Australian Matt Jones, is hoping to earn a wild card spot after playing all 50 LIV Golf tournaments as a member of Ripper GC during the first four seasons. Jones started strong on Friday and was 4 under at the turn before hanging on to shoot 69 after making three bogeys in a five-hole stretch to start his back nine.
Zimbabwe’s Kieran Vincent also advanced by shooting 69. Vincent is the only player in the field to have previous Promotions success, earning one of the three spots in 2023 that placed him on Jon Rahm’s expansion Legion XIII team in 2024.
Wang, meanwhile, continued his early-week success in LIV Golf Promotions, shooting a 5-under 65 to lead the field on Friday. In 2024, Wang shot the best opening round in Promotions and tied for third best in the following round but could not keep up the pace on the 36-hole final-day finish. He is glad to see the format change to 18 holes over two days this weekend.
“It’s more comfortable for me to play 18, 18,” said Wang, who was exempt from Round 1 due to his International Series status. “I’m really excited to play the next two days. I’ll just give it my best.”
Canadian Richard T. Lee, whose 6-under 64 was the lowest score in Thursday’s first round, followed with a 66 on Friday as one of Wang’s three closest pursuers. His round was fueled by eagles on both of the par-5 holes, with his 5-wood second shot at the ninth hole settling to 5 feet, and his 5-iron from a waste bunker at the 16th finished within 3 feet.
Like Wang, Lee has made the weekend for the second consecutive Promotions tournament but has not converted that into a LIV Golf spot.
“I played 6 under yesterday and 4 under, and I think that’s plenty good enough for this course,” said Lee, who is seeking to become the first Canadian player on LIV Golf.
Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana — who played in LIV Golf’s inaugural 2022 season — and Sweden’s Bjorn Hellgren matched Lee’s 66, while nine players shot 67.
As for Kim, he managed to survive-and-advance on a tough day after a performance he called a “5” on a scale to 10. But like the other 21 competitors still alive at Black Diamond Ranch, he is hoping to find some magic during the last 36 holes to earn one of the coveted LIV Golf spots.
“This is what I signed up for,” Kim said. “I’m glad that I got to be in that position and have to make a birdie to get into the next two rounds. There’s a long way to go, but I feel really good about it going into this weekend.”
