North Korean orchestra perform at the Gangneung Olympic Park. Photo: Reuters
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https://scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2133611/record-us25-million-bill-north-korean-cheering-girls-and-orchestra Other Sport
Record US$2.5 million bill for North Korean cheering girls and orchestra at Winter Olympics
It is the most the South has allotted to pay for more than 400 people from across the border, only 22 of whom are athletes
North Korean cheerleaders wearing sunglasses during the women's alpine skiing giant slalom competition. Photo: Kyodo
How much was it worth to Seoul for hundreds of North Koreans to attend the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics? Try US$2.5 million.
According to South Korea’s Unification Ministry, that is the record amount the country has allotted to pay the bills of more than 400 North Koreans, only 22 of whom were athletes, at the Pyeongchang Games.
The North’s performers – a 140-member orchestra with vocalists and dancers, an all-female 229-member cheering squad and a demonstration taekwondo team – have been a major attraction at and around the Games. That is both because their presence itself is seen as a sign of eased tensions after a very rough year and because of the exotic appeal they have because of the general isolation of their country.
The cheerleaders have been an especially big hit and an unmistakable part of every event they have attended – though their cheers usually have little connection to the action on the ice or snow.
North Korea cheer at the men's ice hockey. Photo: AP
It may seem odd or even self-defeating for the South to pay Pyongyang to send delegations that are heavy on propaganda vehicles like cheering squads or artistic troupes and light on athletes. In recent years, though, it has become something of a given.The North has sent big delegations similar to the one now stealing the off-competition spotlight at Pyeongchang three times before.
For the Asian Games in Busan in 2002, it shelled out about US$1.3 million, then US$836,000) for a Universiade in 2003 and another US$385,000) for the Asian Games in 2014.
Fans scramble for pictures of the North Korea cheer squad. Photo: AP
“The North Korean delegation’s participation in the 2018 Olympics will be an opportunity for cooperation and reconciliation between the North and South,” South Korea’s Unification Ministry said in a statement released on Wednesday that included the cost figure.
The ministry said the expenditure is in line with its domestic North-South cooperation funding law, but it stressed the spending should not be considered a step back from Seoul’s global commitments.
“We will continue to work closely with the international community regarding international sanctions against the North,” the statement said.
The funds did not pay for a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s younger sister and senior regime officials to attend the Games’ opening ceremony.
During that three-day visit, Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-ong, invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang.