{"id":14610,"date":"2018-01-22T18:16:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-22T18:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2018\/01\/22\/in-south-korea-a-backlash-against-olympics-cooperation-with-the-north\/"},"modified":"2018-01-22T18:16:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-22T18:16:00","slug":"in-south-korea-a-backlash-against-olympics-cooperation-with-the-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/in-south-korea-a-backlash-against-olympics-cooperation-with-the-north\/","title":{"rendered":"In South Korea, A Backlash Against Olympics Cooperation With The North"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Elise Hu<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n South Korean protesters burn a portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in front of Seoul Station on Monday.<\/p>\n

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Ahn Young-joon\/AP<\/p>\n

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Ahn Young-joon\/AP<\/p>\n

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Efforts to make a show of North Korean and South Korean unity at the next Olympics are drawing a backlash in South Korea. In Seoul, protesters Monday set fire to the North Korean flag and a photo of Kim Jong Un. The South Korean president’s approval rating has dropped in recent days as well.<\/p>\n

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“We oppose, we oppose, we oppose,” shouted demonstrators at Seoul Station, the rail and subway station in the center of the capital. They showed up to confront a North Korean advance team that had arrived to scout out Olympic venues.<\/p>\n

The Olympics cooperation between the North and South came about just this month. Athletes from the two Koreas will march under one unified flag and will form a joint North-South women’s hockey team.<\/p>\n

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Last week, South Korean president Moon Jae-in called the moves important steps toward peace in North-South relations \u2014 part of “a historic moment to be remembered for a long time,” he said during a visit to South Korean athletes at their Olympic training center. “Not only will Koreans be moved, but people around the world will be deeply moved.”<\/p>\n

But many South Koreans aren’t impressed.<\/p>\n

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\n Pop singer Hyon Song-wol, head of the North Korea’s Samjiyon Orchestra and leader of a popular all-female North Korean band, leaves Seoul’s Korea National Theater on Monday. She led Pyongyang’s delegation to inspect Olympic venues before the Games begin next month.<\/p>\n

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“It’s not a smart move,” says Seoul resident Shin Jae-mun, “because the South Korean ice hockey team already practiced a lot by playing by their own team.” He believes South Korean Olympians are being used as political pawns.<\/p>\n

Amid public anger over the combined women’s hockey team, Moon’s approval rating fell to the second lowest of his presidency.<\/a> In a recent poll, 73 percent of South Koreans said they saw no need for a combined team<\/a>. Petitions against the move have flooded the president’s office, some having tens of thousands of signatures.<\/p>\n

“I think South Koreans don’t want North Koreans free-riding,” says Katharine Moon, the Asian studies chair at Wellesley College<\/a>. “There is real concern and empathy for the South Korean players, especially the women’s ice hockey team that’s basically being forced to play with strangers.”<\/p>\n

As time wears on under two separate Koreas, younger generations don’t feel the same connection to North Koreans as their grandparents, who remember a time where they all were part of the same country. As North Korea has built up its nuclear and missile capabilities, trust has worn down.<\/p>\n