World

North Korean Athletes Put On Poor Show At The Winter Olympics

REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Ryan Pickrell China/Asia Pacific Reporter
Font Size:

North Korea’s handful of Olympic athletes will return home without any medals, a situation with which the country is quite familiar.

The North has a history of performing poorly at the Winter Olympics, having competed nine times and brought home only two medals, neither of which were gold. At the Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, North Korea’s highest finish was 13th, which was achieved by the only North Korean athletes to qualify for the Games — pair skaters Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik.

In most of the events in which North Korea competed, the country’s athletes finished last or next to last. The unified Korean hockey team was as successful with only two goals in five matches, according to the Associated Press.

North Korea sent a total of 22 athletes to South Korea for the Olympics after North Korea decided at the last minute that it wanted to take part in the Games. The North Korean competitors were embarrassingly unprepared, but most remained in high spirits.

Despite their performance issues, the athletes had the constant support of the North Korean cheerleaders, a huge army of beautiful brainwashed loyalists dispatched to put a friendly face on a murderous and repressive regime. Pyongyang sent 230 cheerleaders to the South to help the North win a different kind of victory, Reuters reported.

The North won clear diplomatic and propaganda victories at the Winter Olympics, with a lot of help from the liberal South Korean government and the Western media.

ALSO WATCH: Media Slammed For Fawning Over Kim Jong Un’s Sister

The South Korean government has consistently bent over backwards to accommodate North Korea, from allowing blacklisted officials to visit to agreeing to pay millions of dollars to cover the cost of food and housing for North Korea’s cheerleaders and cultural performers, the propaganda tools of the North Korean regime.

The South has been at North Korea’s beck and call for weeks as the North changed plans without explanation and made frequent demands of its southern counterparts.

Through its participation in the Olympics, the rogue regime also managed to sow a certain degree of discord between Washington and Seoul, challenging the alliance, although not to the extent that North Korea desires.

North Korea also received significant assistance from Western media with its propaganda campaign. For example, NBC’s Lester Holt helped Kim Jong Un promote his luxury ski resort, and CNN and others repeatedly fawned over Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong, who the certain media outlets called a “political princess” and the “Ivanka Trump of North Korea.”

Follow Ryan on Twitter

Freedom of Speech Isn’t Free
The Daily Caller News Foundation is working hard to balance out the biased American media. For as little as $3, you can help us. Make a one-time donation to support the quality, independent journalism of TheDCNF. We’re not dependent on commercial or political support and we do not accept any government funding.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.