Figure skaters clinch first spot for North Korea

 Figure skaters Ryom Tae-Ok and Kim Ju-Sik became the first North Koreans to qualify for next year's Winter Olympics in South Korea on Friday, in what could be a significant step for the "Peace Games" following months of nuclear tensions.

Ryom, 18, and Kim, 25, wearing tight black outfits with spangles, produced a strong free programme to grab one of the five Olympic pairs spots available at the Nebelhorn Trophy qualifying tournament in Oberstdorf, Germany.

It means North Korea, who have said they are keen to take part in February's Games in Pyeongchang -- close to the heavily militarised Korean border -- can now compete without waiting to find out if they will be handed wild cards.

"I was very emotional at the end because I was very pleased with our performance, and I'm very grateful to our coaches," said Kim.

Concerns have been mounting over the Pyeongchang Olympics after a series of missile tests by nuclear-armed North Korea and bellicose rhetoric between the communist country and the United States President Donald Trump.

But the geopolitics seemed a far cry from tiny Oberstdorf in alpine Germany, where the diminutive Ryom and Kim skated fluently with some minor mistakes on their jumps to "Je ne suis qu'une chanson" sung by Ginette Reno.

Ryom and Kim, who donned red, white and blue North Korea jackets to hear their scores, exchanged nervous glances as they received 180.09 points overall to place second on the standings.

They ultimately finished sixth but it was enough to book their tickets to Pyeongchang as pairs above them, including the Russian winners Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, had already qualified.

- Unified team -

The news will be welcomed on both sides of the Korean border, after South Korean President Moon Jae-In previously urged the International Olympic Committee to help North Korea compete in Pyeongchang.

Other suggested ways to involve North Korea, which boycotted the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, have included forming a unified team, which would allow the country's athletes to play alongside South Koreans in events such as ice hockey.

Trump has threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea, while Kim hit back with a personal attack on Trump -- branding him "mentally deranged" and warning he would pay dearly for his comments.

In the latest episode of the saga, the North's foreign minister claimed on Monday that Trump's latest comments amounted to a declaration of war.

But the head of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Lee Hee-Beom, said earlier this month there was no "plan B" to move the Games and that the event would have "perfect security" despite the nuclear tensions.

The South has successfully staged several international sporting events, including the 2002 football World Cup, despite decades of military tensions between the two countries, who remain technically at war.

The 1988 Seoul Olympics took place only months after a bomb planted by North Korean agents killed all 115 people on board a South Korean plane, in an apparent attempt to scare off foreign spectators and contestants.

Source: AFP