Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says that if North Korea participates in the 2018 Winter Olympics, the U.S. should not.
During his New Year’s address, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un expressed an interest in sending a North Korean delegation to take part in the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, not only to improve inter-Korean relations, but also to demonstrate the North’s newfound “prestige.”
South Korea responded positively to what is being perceived as an olive branch, as did the International Olympic Committee. The South Korean government has largely focused its attention on Kim’s offer to engage the South in dialogue, noticeably ignoring the despot’s nuclear ambitions.
Lee Hee-beom, president of the organizing committee for the PyeongChang Olympics, said that Kim’s remarks served as a “positive signal and a New Year’s gift.”
Graham argues that there is no place for North Korea, a rogue state which regularly violates international norms with hostile provocations, at the Olympics.
Allowing Kim Jong Un’s North Korea to participate in #WinterOlympics would give legitimacy to the most illegitimate regime on the planet.
I’m confident South Korea will reject this absurd overture and fully believe that if North Korea goes to the Winter Olympics, we do not.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 1, 2018
The senator from South Carolina has urged the U.S. to boycott the Olympics in the past, specifically the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in response to Moscow’s decision to offer NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden asylum.
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