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North and South Korean Athletes Unified at 2018 Asian Games

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JAKARTA, Indonesia — Thousands of spectators cheered wildly as athletes from the rival Koreas paraded side-by-side behind a “unification” flag in a spectacular opening ceremony for the Asian Games.

The two countries, still technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, have fielded 60 athletes in combined teams along with larger contingents for their respective national squads. North and South Korean athletes are competing together in several sports including women’s basketball and rowing.

South Korea Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon and several North Korean ministers watched as the athletes, many holding hands, paraded by in blue and white uniforms on Saturday night behind South Korean basket ball player Lim Yung-hui and North Korean soccer player Ju Kyong Chol, who together carried the flag.

It was a virtual repeat of the joint march during the Winter Olympics in February in the South Korean ski resort of Pyeongchang, minus the gloves, parkas and fur hats.

But this scenery for this was tropical as about 42,000 people packed the Bung Karno stadium in the Indonesian capital for an elaborate ceremony showcasing diverse Indonesian culture.

Aside from the rousing applause for the Koreans, teams from Palestine, Syria, Taiwan and Indonesia received extra bursts of enthusiasm from the crowd.

Korean spectator Hwang Miri said the sight of the athletes marching together made her feel unification of the two countries was possible in her lifetime.

“Looking at all of these people working together and playing together, even walking all together in this unified uniform and the unified flag, it is such an enormous feeling,” Hwang said.

The show began with a slickly produced video portraying Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo stuck in traffic — a witty play on one of Jakarta’s major challenges in hosting the games — donning a black helmet and jumping a motorbike over a ramp to reach the stadium in time.

The motorbike shown in the video sped into the stadium and its helmeted driver disappeared into a tunnel before the real Jokowi appeared in the VIP area.

Much of the stadium has been filled with a rainforest-covered mountain that forms the backdrop for a show based on air, earth, wind and fire themes.

By Niniek Karmini
The Associated Press

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