SEOUL ¨C South Korea¡¯s offer to send athletes to a North Korean ski resort for joint training ahead of next month¡¯s Olympics risks giving Kim Jong Un¡¯s regime legitimacy and some much-needed cash, North Korean defectors and experts say.
Already facing criticism for plans to march under a unity flag and field a combined Korean ice hockey team, the administration of South Korean President Moon Jae-in may come under further pressure if it is seen to be endorsing Kim¡¯s luxury getaway on North Korea¡¯s east coast.
¡°The idea of joint training could be used as a propaganda tool to rationalize how far-sighted Kim Jong Un was in making what was actually an anachronistic decision to build the ski resort at a time when ordinary citizens are starving to death,¡± said Kim Sung-han, a former South Korean vice foreign minister.
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