OBERSTDORF, Germany — The next effort to defuse North Korea’s nuclear brinkmanship may come, not from diplomats, but from a pair of North Korean figure skaters who perform to music by the Beatles.
An obscure competition on Thursday and Friday here in Bavaria has gained geopolitical urgency as the pairs team of Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik seek to become the first North Korean athletes to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics in February in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“We’re aware there is a lot of interest,” Kim Hyon-son, who coaches the pair, said after a training session on Wednesday, speaking briefly through a translator.