"The North Koreans have a very sour feeling toward the new government in Seoul, and they are giving expression to their feelings. You might see a protracted period of this kind of behavior," said Lee Dong-bok, a former South Korean intelligence official specializing in North Korea.
The South Korean president is a conservative who has accused his predecessors of giving too much to the North and getting little in return.
North Korea's anger was apparent at Friday night's Olympic opening ceremony here. The North Koreans demanded that they not have to march directly behind the South Koreans. That forced the Beijing organizers to rearrange the delegations so that Fiji, Cameroon and Montenegro came in between. The Chinese also had to make last-minute seating changes so that North Korea's second in command, Kim Yong Nam, would not be near Lee.
"You could see that the distrust between the two Korean governments is much deeper than we expected," said Paik Hak-soon, director of inter-Korean studies at South Korea's Sejong Institute.
The contrast with the 2000 Sydney Olympics couldn't have been greater. Those Games came shortly after a landmark meeting between North Korea's Kim Jong Il and then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who would later win a Nobel Peace Prize for that year. Athletes from the two Koreas walked into the stadium together holding a placard that simply read "Korea," and were greeted by thunderous applause. They again marched jointly in 2004 in Athens and in 2006 in Turin, Italy, at the Winter Games. (The North skipped the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.)
Many had hoped that this year they could go even further, not merely marching together but joining as a team. Negotiations on uniting the teams quickly broke down when the North Koreans demanded that the athletes be split 50-50. That was immediately rejected by South Korea, which has twice the population.
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barbara.demick@latimes.com
