Winter in PyeongChang

The 2018 Winter Olympics and also known as PyeongChang 2018 is being hosted by South Korea. This marks the first time that South Korea has hosted the Winter Olympics, and the second Olympics held in the country, the first being the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

The summer Olympics in Seoul was the first Olympics without a massive political boycott since 1972, in a context marked by the

end of the ¨Cold War¨. Seoul 1988 received the largest participation to date. The Seoul, 1988 also helped South Korea gain a reputation abroad, because for South Korea this was the first sports event held in the country.

Due to the missile crisis involving North Korea and the tensions between North Korea and South Korea, major security concerns came along with this huge event, with several countries threatening to skip the games if their safety was not ensured, including the United States. However, in January, after their first high-level talks in over two years, North Korea agreed to participate in the games. They marched together with South Korea during the opening ceremony and agreed to field a unified women's hockey team.

North Korea refused to participate in the Seoul 1988, but this year North Korea is attending the Olympics, and the singer Seohyun alongside Samjiyon Band, a North Korean classical music ensemble, who held their “Special Concert by Samjiyon Band for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Paralympics,” concert on February 11 at the Haeoreum Theater in Seoul, the singer Seohyun made a surprise appearance and stood alongside the North Korean singers from the ensemble and performed “Our Wish” together, a song that yearns for the reunification of the two Koreas.