N. Korea may televise PyeongChang Olympics

The Masikryong Ski Resort, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's pet project near the port city of Wonsan on the country's east coast, is open only to a limited group of people, including those from the elite class. / Korea Times file

By Yi Whan-woo

North Korean media outlets will broadcast the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, according to sources familiar with Pyongyang.

If this happens, North Koreans will get a rare glimpse of South Korea's first Winter Games amid a thaw in cross-border relations.

"The country will intensively cover events involving their athletes as well as the activities of its cheerleading squad on TV and radio," a source said.

It did not specify whether Pyongyang's state-controlled media would broadcast the Winter Games live or make relevant reports including recorded and censored footage.

A North Korea expert in Seoul said he believed North Korean coverage of the Olympics was "very likely."

"The plan appears to be an attempt to build solidarity among the people," said Sejong Institute senior researcher Paik Hak-soon.

He pointed out that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un underscored "single-hearted unity" for a "powerful socialist country" during his New Year's address.

"Kim may have carefully calculated that capitalizing on the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and showing TV footage of the North Korean delegation of athletes and officials being greeted in the South will help him gain support from the people," Paik said. "It will definitely be a plus for Kim, considering that he wants North Korea to become a sports powerhouse as parts of efforts to build a strong country."

Paik speculated that state-owned Korean Central Television may live stream the opening ceremony in which the two Koreas have agreed to march under a united flag.

The International Olympic Committee said 22 North Korean athletes would compete in a unified women's hockey team, figure skating, short-track speed skating, alpine skiing and cross-country skiing.

The athletes will be part of a delegation of more than 400, including 24 coaches, officials and 230 cheerleaders.

The Pyongyang Ice Rink is believed to be North Korea's only indoor ice rink. / Courtesy of Doopedia

The winter sports are unfamiliar in the impoverished regime because it does not have sufficient facilities, according to North Korean defectors in Seoul.

The repressive state's TV and newspapers rarely report on the Olympics, so the people have limited opportunity to learn about the sports.

"You can enjoy winter sports only in winter," said Kim Heung-kwang, chief of North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity. "For instance, the Pyongyang Ice Rink is the only indoor ice rink in the entire country as far as I know."

He said he never had a chance to use the venue when he was a member of the ice-skating team at Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang.

Kim Yeong-ho, who is from North Korea's third-largest city Chongjin, said people there "can virtually skate" only in a natural environment such as on frozen lakes and reservoirs.

"The students could play on a rink that they were mobilized to build on the school playground," he said. "But the schools only did something when the North Korean leaders ordered them to encourage winter sports."

There were several ski resorts nationwide — including in Changjin County, Samjiyon County and Kanggye — before the Masikryong Ski Resort, Kim Jong-un's pet project near Wonsan, was completed in December 2013.

But the resorts open only to athletes and soldiers specially trained for ski warfare, according to Kim Heung-kwang.

The resorts also did not have lifts, so skiers had to climb up the slope.

The Masikryong Ski Resort has lifts, but only a limited number of people, such as the elite class and international tourists, can afford the entrance fee.