Protests over joint Korean hockey team

Incheon, South Korea: Angry demonstrators stamped on a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un as a joint North and South Korean women’s ice hockey team came together for the first time, losing 3-1 to Sweden in a practice match.

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 addition of North Korean players has provoked controversy in the South, with accusations that Seoul is depriving some of its own players of the chance to compete at a home Olympics 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, five days before the Winter Games officially open.

The 3,000-capacity crowd roared as the team — including four North Koreans — glided onto the ice at the Seonhak International Ice Rink in Incheon, wearing blue and red uniforms with KOREA emblazoned across their chests.But outside the arena, security was tight as protesters faced off with supporters of the joint team, highlighting sharp divisions over the initiative.