Analysis: North Korea judged winner of diplomatic gold at Olympics

South and North Korean delegation shake hands during their meeting at Tongilgak, the North's building in the truce village of Panmunjom, North Korea, January 15, 2018. The Unification Ministry/Yonhap via REUTERS/Files

  PYEONGCHANG, South Korea, February 11 (Reuters) - North Korea has emerged as the early favourite to grab one of the Winter Olympics' most important medals: the diplomatic gold.   That is the assessment of a former South Korean government minister and political experts who say the North has used the Games to drive a wedge between South Korea and its U.S. ally and to potentially ease pressure on its sanctions-crippled state.   In barely a month since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un surprised the world and said his nation was ready to join the Games, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has delayed military exercises, feted Kim's sister at the Pyeongchang Olympics and given conditional consent to a bilateral summit in the North.   "North Korea clearly appears to be winning the gold," said Kim Sung-han, who served as Korea's vice foreign minister in 2012-2013 and who now teaches at Seoul's Korea University.   "Its delegation and athletes are getting all the spotlight, and Kim Jong Un's sister is showing elegant smiles before the South Korean public and the world. Even for a moment, it appears to be a normal state." [caption id="attachment_337022" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Ice Hockey – Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics – Women Preliminary Round Match - Switzerland v Korea - Kwandong Hockey Centre, Gangneung, South Korea – February 10, 2018 - North Korea's cheer squad holds the unification flag. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/Files[/caption] [caption id="attachment_337023" align="aligncenter" width="728"] A North Korean delegation led by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's younger sister Kim Yo Jong and president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong Nam leave the Incheon International Airport in South Korea to attend the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games, in Incheon February 9, 2018. Yonhap via REUTERS[/caption] [caption id="attachment_337024" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Ice Hockey – Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics – Women Preliminary Round Match - Switzerland v Korea - Kwandong Hockey Centre, Gangneung, South Korea – February 10, 2018 - The unification flag is seen. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/Files[/caption] [caption id="attachment_337025" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics – Opening ceremony – Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium - Pyeongchang, South Korea – February 9, 2018 - Hwang Chung Gum and Won Yunjong of Korea carrie the unification flag during the opening ceremony. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/Files[/caption] U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who attended Friday's opening ceremony along with the North Koreans, said "no daylight" existed between the United States, South Korea and Japan on the need to isolate North Korea.   He said the North was using the Games for crude propaganda.   But it was Pence who cast one of the loneliest figures at the event. He remained seated when the joint Korean team entered the stadium, in contrast to Moon who stood along with Kim Jong Un's younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, to applaud.   NIGHTMARE FOR JAPAN?   The warm North-South body language not only fanned talk of a split between Seoul and Washington, it contrasted with a cold encounter between South Korea and Japan, an ally in U.S.-led efforts to pressure North Korea to end its nuclear programme.   Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who looked uncomfortable at times during the opening ceremony, irritated his hosts by telling the South Korean leader that joint South Korea-U.S. military drills should be promptly resumed after the Games.   To pave the way for the North's participation at Pyeongchang, South Korea had delayed the annual exercises with U.S. forces, which usually take place between February and March, until after the Olympics.   "Now is not the time to postpone U.S.-South Korea military exercises. It is important to move forward with the drills as planned," Abe said, according to South's presidential Blue House. Moon replied that it was not appropriate for Abe to have raised the issue, which he described as an internal affair.   Japan does not participate in the military exercises, but it is within reach of North Korean missiles and relies heavily on U.S. forces and their readiness to deal with that threat.   "This development could have been anticipated, but for Japan it's a nightmare scenario," said Takashi Kawakami, a professor of international politics at Takushoku University in Tokyo. [caption id="attachment_336995" align="aligncenter" width="728"] South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets with a high-level delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea led by Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) February 10, 2018. KCNA/via REUTERS[/caption] [caption id="attachment_336996" align="aligncenter" width="728"] South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets with a high-level delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea led by Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) February 10, 2018. KCNA/via REUTERS[/caption] [caption id="attachment_336778" align="aligncenter" width="728"] Kim Yo-Jong, the sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, arrives at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, February 10, 2018. Yonhap via REUTERS[/caption] [caption id="attachment_336721" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Kim Yo Jong, center, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and the country’s nominal head of state Kim Yong Nam, right, arrive to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the presidential house in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018. President Moon on Saturday met with the senior North Korean officials over lunch at Seoul’s presidential palace in the most significant diplomatic encounter between the rivals in years.(Kim Ju-sung/Yonhap via AP)[/caption] [caption id="attachment_336720" align="aligncenter" width="617"] Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, sits to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the presidential house in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018. President Moon on Saturday met with the senior North Korean officials over lunch at Seoul’s presidential palace in the most significant diplomatic encounter between the rivals in years.(Kim Ju-sung/Yonhap via AP)[/caption] [caption id="attachment_336719" align="aligncenter" width="800"] South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, shakes hands with Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the North Korea’s agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs, as Kim Yo Jong, right, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, stand during a meeting at the presidential house in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018. President Moon on Saturday met with the senior North Korean officials over lunch at Seoul’s presidential palace in the most significant diplomatic encounter between the rivals in years.(Kim Ju-sung/Yonhap via AP)[/caption] [caption id="attachment_336717" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Kim Yo Jong, center, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and the country’s nominal head of state Kim Yong Nam, second from left, arrive to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the presidential house in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018. President Moon on Saturday met with the senior North Korean officials over lunch at Seoul’s presidential palace in the most significant diplomatic encounter between the rivals in years.(Kim Ju-sung/Yonhap via AP)[/caption] "North Korea is skilfully driving a wedge between the U.S., Japan and South Korea."   A senior Japanese defence official said North Korea's Games charm offensive could "simply be a way to gain time" until it completed its nuclear and ballistic missile development.   SANCTIONS BITING?   North Korea is under a heavy U.N. sanctions regime which was originally targeted at stopping the proliferation of arms and nuclear and missile technologies, but has become more all-encompassing after its accelerated missile testing.   After years of ineffective implementation, those sanctions may have begun to finally bite, which, according to a Japanese government official and experts, helps explain why Kim Jong Un agreed to send a national team and his sister to the Olympics.   A foreign resident living in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, told Reuters he had seen fewer people in restaurants and luxury goods in shops in recent months.   Fuel prices have risen and more wood-fired Soviet-era trucks have been seen on the outskirts of the capital, said the resident, speaking on condition of anonymity. Seafood, once a major North Korean export, was now more widely available at home after U.N. sanctions banned these exports in August.   When a ferry carrying North Koreans to the Games docked in South Korea last week, the North asked its hosts for the fuel needed to get it home, Seoul's Unification Ministry said. The North then withdrew its request after it asked for more fuel than Seoul was willing to provide, a Seoul official added.   In Pyeongchang, though, the two Koreas avoided talk of sanctions and basked instead in Olympic goodwill, which was nowhere more evident than on Saturday night when a joint Korean women's ice hockey team took to the ice.   It inspired an American member of the International Olympic Committee to call for the team, which included 12 North Korean players, to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.   In Pyongyang, North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper also reported on the Games bonhomie, publishing photos of its ceremonial head of state clinking glasses with Moon and of the South's leader also shaking hands with a telegenic Kim Yo Jong.   "The people I spoke to in Pyongyang were really excited about the joint team," said Michael Spavor of the Paektu Cultural Exchange, an organisation which took a group of tourists to Pyongyang last week.   "They felt it had made this tense situation on the peninsula calm down a bit."