While hundreds of millions of the world’s people get ready to watch the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Sunday, North Koreans are still waiting to see the first event.
The lack of news at home is a stark contrast with how North Korea’s delegation at the games has been a big hit with the South Korean media. The only reports from Pyeongchang as of Saturday afternoon were about the visit of Kim Jong-un’s younger sister and North Korea’s nominal head of state to attend the opening ceremony.
Even taking into account the North’s reluctance to portray South Korea in a positive light, the blackout is a bit mysterious. Mr. Kim himself used his annual televised New Year’s address to wish for the games’ success and announce the North’s plan to participate.
The absence of video might suggest a rights’ issue which is a legalistic can of worms.
Rights issue?
Two people involved with Olympic broadcast rights for the SBS network, initially the official rights holder for the whole peninsula, said their network returned rights for the North to broadcast the games directly to the International Olympic Committee, but were not sure if Pyongyang had requested permission.
It’s possible North Korean authorities are waiting to see how the high-level interaction between North and South goes before they decide how or if to show anything from the Olympics themselves.
