Paris 2024 Olympics: North Korea performs diplomatic gymnastics

They cheered Simone Biles and took selfies with their "foes" from the South - is this an-officially sanctioned charm offensive?

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Saturday’s women’s vault final saw the North share a stage with its foes South Korea and the US.

An, 21, grinned and waved for TV cameras and hugged at least one fellow finalist - rare interactions with foreigners by a young woman required to perform diplomatic gymnastics while being carefully chaperoned on her trip away from home.

Pyongyang’s decision to send athletes to these Games – two of whom even posed for a selfie with rivals from the South - has raised hopes that the secretive state could be partially reopening after a particularly deep period of isolation.

After all, this comes after a heated period that has seen the North sending waste-filled balloons at the South.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crgkk0rle75o

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