Even Olympic selfies are complicated by Koreas’ rivalry

Millions of selfies are taken each day, but one, taken by two Olympic gymnasts, has captured the world’s attention.

“Gymnasts from North & South Korea take a selfie together”.

Lee Eun-Ju, 17, from South Korea and Hong Un Jong, 27, from North Korea, posed for a photo together at a training session before the Olympic Games began in Rio de Janeiro on August 4.

Political scientist Ian Bremmer re-posted the photo on his Twitter page, and it has since garnered more than 20,000 re-tweets and 20,000 likes.

Serbian sports minister Vanja Udovicic said the order was only “a recommendation” and that any boycott was up to the individual athletes.

Eun-ju is a first time competitor at the Olympic Games. The two countries are technically at war with each other and have no official diplomatic relations.

Since then, the two countries adopted a hostile attitude towards each other by flaring tensions in a demilitarised zone – an established boundary to separate the two nations from each other.

On the way to the opening ceremony, the Lebanese team refused to ride the bus with their Israeli counterparts. “Isn’t this the opposite of what the Olympics represent and work against it?”