Protesters stamped on a picture of Kim Jong-Un during a historical ice hockey match which saw North and South Korean women in the same team.
The unified team for the Pyeongchang Olympics is a product of a landmark deal between the two rivals following a year of high tensions over the nuclear-armed North’s weapons ambitions.
But the South has been accused of depriving some of its own players to include North Korean women for political purposes.
Protesters stamped on a picture of Kim Jong-Un during a historical ice hockey match which saw North and South Korean women in the same team
They accused their country of depriving some of its own players to include North Korean women for political purposes
The joint team of North and South Korean female hockey players tested the ice for the first time in a warm-up match against Sweden where they lost 3-1 as they prepared for the Winter Games which officially start in five days.
Around 3,000 fans attended the game and cheered on the unified team who wore blue and red uniforms with Korea emblazoned across their chests.
They played on the Seonhak International Ice Rink in Incheon, South Korea.
But outside the arena, security was tight as protesters faced off with supporters of the joint team.
Those in favour of the North Korean presence chanted ‘Peace Olympics’, while protesters just across the street shouted ‘Pyongyang Olympics,’ suggesting the North had been allowed to hijack the Pyeongchang Games.
Dozens of protesters yelled criticisms of the North into speakers, trampling on a picture of leader Kim and ripping up blue and white unification flags.
Those in favour of the North Korean presence chanted ‘Peace Olympics’, while protesters just across the street shouted ‘Pyongyang Olympics,’ suggesting the North had been allowed to hijack the Pyeongchang Games
Park Cheol-Hyun, 44, who watched the game with his family, said: ‘Maintaining peace between the North and South is the most urgent issue.
‘It’s important to achieve that through the Olympics and I think the unified team is very meaningful.’
The unification flag hung next to the Swedish flag in the arena and the Korean folk song ‘Arirang’, which dates back more than 600 years, blared from the speakers instead of the national anthems of the two Koreas before the game.
The two countries have only created unified teams twice in the past – in 1991, when their women won the team gold at the world table tennis championship in Japan, and their under-19 footballers reached the world championship quarter-finals in Portugal.
The South Korean public has been heavily divided on the issue of the unified team, hitting the popularity of President Moon Jae-In, whose approval ratings have dipped below 60 percent, the lowest since he took office last May.