Two Koreas march apart as Winter Olympics ends

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea, Feb 25 (AFP): The two Koreas marched behind their own flags as the curtain fell Sunday on two weeks of competition against a backdrop of diplomatic manoeuvring at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
At a colourful and cold ceremony, Ivanka Trump sat near to a blacklisted North Korean general and Russian competitors trooped in without their banned flag.
Unlike the Games' opening, the North and South Korean athletes marched separately and waving their national flags, although some North Koreans held the blue-and-white Korean Unification emblem.
US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka was just a few seats away from North Korea's Kim Yong Chol, who is accused of masterminding attacks on South Korea and is blacklisted by Seoul.
As the show got underway, South Korea's presidential Blue House relayed that Chol's delegation had said North Korea was "very willing" to hold talks with America.
It was the latest conciliatory move by North Korea during the Games, where Kim Jong Un's sister attended the opening ceremony and the two Koreas formed their first joint Olympic team, in women's ice hockey.
After a successful drone display -- following an aborted attempt at the opening ceremony, where recorded images were broadcast instead -- International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach handed out medals from the final day.