North and South Korea march under a united flag at 2018 Winter Olympics

North and South Korea marched under a united flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Pyeongchang last night in a symbolic break in tensions between the two nations over North Korea’s nuclear program.

Athletes from the two countries entered the Pyeongchang Olympic stadium together, joined hands, and marched under the Korean Unification flag, which displays the entire Korean peninsula in blue against a white backdrop.

It was a rare but not unprecedented spectacle. The two countries first displayed the flag at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships and most recently at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy.

But this year’s gesture of unity comes at a crucial moment. Tensions between North Korea and South Korea have skyrocketed as Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs have advanced at an astonishing pace in the past year, and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has persistently demonstrated a readiness to make use of them.

Source: Vox.com