North Korea Ambushes the Olympics

Nicole Burbach, Staff Writer

North Korea has officially snuck their way into the Olympics, supposedly bringing peace… along with Kim Jong-un’s sister.

Don’t buy it.

The US Treasury Department included Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong-un’s sister, on its list of “blacklisted officials” last year, according to CNN. But now she’s bringing North Korea to the Olympics.

I’m all for equality and world peace, but the insensitivity towards victims of North Korea’s aggressions is something I cannot get behind.

 

Think about the family of Otto Warmbier, a victim of North Korea, more specifically a victim of Kim Jong-un.

 

While Warmbier, 23, was visiting the country in early 2016, he was arrested by North Korean officers for allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda poster. He was then sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment, according to CNN.

 

Warmbier was later freed in June 2017 shortly after North Korean officials announced he was suffering medical problems and had allegedly “fallen” into a coma after suffering from a brain injury. He died soon after being returned to the United States, never coming out of his mysterious coma.

 

And if that isn’t reason enough, even President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are against the addition.

 

Vice President Pence, during comments to reporters in Japan, even said that North Korea’s participation in the games is an “empty gesture,” according to USA Today.

 

Pence also said that North Korea and South Korea have marched under the same banner before only to see “North Korea continue its pursuit of threats and provocation.”

 

“In fact, North Korea tested its first nuclear weapon only eight months after the conclusion of the 2006 Winter Olympics,” Pence said.

 

So who’s to say that North Korea didn’t want to enter the 2018 Olympics due to malicious intent?

 

I know that the Olympics support a sort of world peace, so it’s possibly that they only have good intentions, but it’s incredibly hard to believe that a dictator who recently fought with President Trump about their nuclear power and “button size” is now throwing olive branches to his enemies.

 

Either way, letting North Korea into the Olympics will only show them that no one will stop them from doing almost anything they want… and the thought of that should scare you.