The Paralympics opens on Friday in Pyeongchang in what will be the largest winter Games to date with 240 medals up for grabs and North Korea making its debut part of a wider cooling of tensions. The Games will run over 10 days and 670 athletes will compete over 100 more than in Sochi four years ago across six sports: para Alpine skiing para biathlon para cross-country skiing sleigh hockey para snowboarding and wheelchair curling. All eyes will likely be on the North Korean athletes who arrived on Wednesday as part of a 24-member delegation. It will be the first time North Korea has participated in the Winter Paralympics. It sent just one athlete to the summer edition in London and two to the Games in Rio de Janeiro. Six athletes have travelled to Pyeongchang but only two will actually compete both in Nordic skiing events. However South and North Korea will not march together at the opening ceremony of the Winter Paralympics as they did at the Olympics last month because they cannot agree on a united flag that erases islands disputed with Japan officials said. The athletes and officials from the North said little on arrival in South Korea one senior official said only: I am pleased before they were rushed on to buses bound for Pyeongchang. North Korea s participation is part of a wider rapprochement on the Korean peninsula and comes after it sent a delegation of more than 500 people to the Olympics including cheerleaders and performers. Pyongyang has gone from issuing threats of war to saying it is willing to relinquish its nuclear weapons as part of negotiations with the US. But North Korea s presence at the Paralympics has raised eyebrows due to a history of claims of official discrimination against disabled people. People are routinely sent to prison camps because of their disability according to a UN report and North Koreans who have fled the country have described harassment by the authorities. But adversity has led to some inspiring stories among the competitors. There are a wide range of disabilities including amputated limbs blindness learning disabilities and spinal injuries. Athletes in the same sport compete in different categories based on their disability to ensure an even playing field. Choi Kwang-hyouk fled North Korea shortly after his left foot was amputated without anaesthesia and will represent South Korea in para ice hockey. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Niels de Langen of the Netherlands starts the men s downhill training run. Photograph: Simon Bruty/AP Brenna Huckaby became the first Paralympian photographed for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition and will compete in the two snowboard events. She lost her leg when she had cancer as a child and hopes the publicity will raise awareness of the Paralympics and encourage more people to participate. We work just as hard as the Olympians she said in an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune. Two of the UK s athletes lost limbs while serving with the military in Afghanistan with Scott Meenagh s appearance in Nordic skiing the first for a British athlete in two decades. Owen Pick will be one of Team GB s first Paralympic snowboarders. The Paralympics organisers have said 275 000 tickets have been sold about 89% of those made available so far. It s a huge rise from a number that barely registered in October 2017. But many South Koreans are unaware of the Games and just days before the opening ceremony a poll showed only about a third of people knew when the Paralympics would begin. They ll think I m a traitor : North Korean defector makes Winter Paralympics debut Read more Attracting an audience has been one of the main goals of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and internet streaming services mean more people can watch events than in previous years. What is greatly encouraging is that not only do we have more broadcasters but many of them are also dedicating more airtime across all platforms than previous Games editions Alexis Schaefer the IPC s commercial and marketing director said in a statement. We have more broadcasters than ever before set to cover the Winter Paralympics which shows the growing global interest in para sport. As in the Olympics Russian athletes will not compete under the Russian flag but instead as individuals and grouped under the term neutral Paralympic athlete . Russia s Olympic and Paralympic committees were banned following revelations of a state-sponsored doping programme. The Paralympics have not been without controversy and in recent years organisers have struggled with questions about how athletes are grouped according to their disability. Bethany Woodward a British sprinter with cerebral palsy quit competing and handed back a medal after saying more able-bodied athletes were allowed to race against her. Topics Paralympics Disability sport South Korea North Korea Asia Pacific news Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Google Share on WhatsApp Share on Messenger Reuse this content
North Korea has offered to discuss denuclearisation with the United States and consider abandoning its weapons programmes in exchange for security guarantees according to Seoul the latest chapter in a rapid Olympics-driven rapprochement on the Korean peninsula. Decades of Western attempts to persuade Pyongyang to abandon nuclear weapons have failed. The 1994 Agreed Framework offered the North civilian nuclear reactors and other assistance in exchange for denuclearisation. It fell apart after the US accused the isolated state of covertly restarting its weapons programme and aid delays angered Pyongyang which eventually stormed out. In 2003 the Beijing-led Six Party Talks began bringing together the US both Koreas Russia Japan and China in a tortuous process. North Korea pledged to give up its nuclear programmes in 2005 but carried out its first atomic blast the following year. It walked out three years later detonating its second device soon afterwards. Pyongyang has since continued its weapons drive accelerating it after Kim inherited power in 2011 from his father Kim Jong Il. Last year it carried out its sixth nuclear blast and launched missiles it said were capable of reaching the US mainland. Two top ranking South Korean officials will travel to Washington on Thursday to brief officials on details of their Pyongyang trip. National security advisor Chung Eui-yong and spy chief Suh Hoon will meet with President Donald Trump according to Yonhap news agency. We can t reveal everything to the press but we have a separate message from North Korea for the US Chung told reporters. More cross-border exchanges are expected between the two Koreas as they prepare for a summit between the North s Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in next month. The two leaders will meet on the southern side of the fortified border village of Panmunjom for what would be only the third inter-Korean summit since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea has yet to confirm the concessions Seoul says Pyongyang has offered so its motives are open to interpretation. What it means by security guarantees and the elimination of military threats against it -- which it says it needs to consider giving up nuclear weapons -- will be crucial. Previously it has demanded the withdrawal of US troops based in the South and the end of the security alliance between Seoul and Washington pointed out Go Myong-Hyun of the Asan Institute of Policy Studies. If North Koreans again brought this up as a condition for denuclearisation it s just the same way as saying that North Korea is not willing to give up their nuclear weapons he said. Pyongyang and Washington may also have diverging views on denuclearisation. The North could seek a dialogue for peaceful coexistence with the US said Koh Yu-hwan a professor at Dongguk University. That s far from the complete verifiable irreversible denuclearisation that the US expects Koh added. Both Seoul and Washington say they will press ahead with joint war games after the the Paralympics end on March 18 -- which means they could coincide with the inter-Korean summit. The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises -- which usually begin in late Feburary or early March -- were postponed as part of Seoul s efforts to draw the North to attend the Winter Games in the South. Military tensions often run high during the exercises with the North carrying out its own counter-drills against what it condemns as rehearsals for a war. But according to a senior official at the South s presidential office Kim said during Monday s meeting he would understand if Seoul goes ahead with the delayed exercises. Kim has made atomic weapons a core part of North Korea s political identity. In his New Year s address -- which began the diplomatic dance -- he declared the development of the state nuclear force complete . The North s media made no mention of its new position on Wednesday but analysts dismissed the possibility of any internal conflict over Kim s offer to put its treasured sword up for negotiation. It is something only the Dear Leader can say said Professor Koo Kab-woo of the University of North Korean Studies adding that it was a typical example of Kim s autonomy https://slides.com/kkflipkart. In his meeting with the South s delegation Kim referred to denuclearisation as the dying wish of the previous North Korean leaders -- his grandfather Kim Il Sung and father Kim Jong Il -- according to Seoul officials. By referring to the wishes of the forefathers all internal conflict has been eliminated Koo said adding: That s the best card Kim Jong Un can use.
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here s the sign-up.)Good morning. Trade retaliation murmurs of dissent in China and overlooked obituaries. Here s what you need to know: Photo Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times President Trump signed off on tough tariffs on steel and aluminum promising to be very flexible after facing a global outcry.The tariffs have raised fears of retaliation. Choosing a trade war is a mistaken prescription China s foreign minister said. (Our senior economics correspondent calls it more of a skirmish. )Mr. Trump suggested some allies including Canada Mexico and Australia might be spared. But some nations aren t taking any chances. A group of 11 including Australia New Zealand and Japan signed a broad free trade deal in a direct challenge to Mr. Trump s protectionist agenda.And our news podcast The Daily examines Mr. Trump s claims about tariffs and trade deficits. The Daily Listen to The Daily : Trump s Tariffs President Trump said that protections on steel and aluminum imports were in the interest of national security. But could the threat be the tariffs themselves? Audio Follow The Daily: Apple Podcasts Google Play Music Radio Public RSS Feed _____ Photo Credit Bryan Denton for The New York Times China is all but certain this weekend to throw out a 1982 rule that has restricted the country s presidents to two five-year terms. The beneficiary President Xi Jinping could be in power for life. Advertisement Continue reading the main story To position himself for this moment our correspondent writes Mr. Xi deployed speed secrecy and intimidation to smother potential opposition inside and outside the party. Here s a look at Mr. Xi s rise to power. Continue reading the main story
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