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As Olympics begin to kick into gear in Korea, there’s still uneasiness over political tensions

Members of the North Korea cheering group gather before a welcome ceremony inside the Gangneung Olympic Village prior to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Gangneung, South Korea • All the passengers except the tour guide were in their seats on the bus here Thursday morning when their phones started shrieking all at once.

An emergency alert. Written in Korean.

The riders, a mix of journalists and Olympic staffers from around the globe, hurried to translate the message with their smartphones before letting out a collective sigh. There was a fire at a high-rise housing unit that was under construction nearby. Bad news, certainly. But the day before the Opening Ceremony at Olympic Stadium, with the world traveling to the Korean Peninsula, one could imagine a far worse emergency.

As the moment of fleeting panic subsided on the Gangneung coast, the tour guide stepped aboard her bus, smiling and commenting on the weather before asking the group if it was ready to head to its destination: the DMZ.

The Demilitarized Zone — 160 miles long and as wide as 2 kilometers — divides North and South Korea, but it cannot untangle their history and politics.

And that’s just one reason some people here are on edge as they prepare for the Opening Ceremony here on Friday night and the three weeks of competition that will follow. Perhaps by the time the Games come to a close, they will be judged and remembered for figure skater Nathan Chen’s quadruple twists or skier Mikaela Shiffrin’s dominance on the mountain.

For now, however, every question for an athlete here is matched by two more about this rural province’s emergency preparedness — and ability to put out fires.

Chen, the Salt Lake City native and gold-medal contender, displayed his power and grace on the ice Thursday morning as he prepared for his first Olympic contest the next day.

(Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City's Nathan Chen practices his Men's Single Skating Short Program for the Team Event at the Gangneung Ice Arena Thursday, February 8, 2018.

“Everything is great,” he told the scrum of 20 or so reporters.

Meanwhile, officials here scrambled to slow a norovirus outbreak that apparently started at a youth training center. Another 40 people were confirmed to have the illness Thursday, bringing the total to 128 who now have been quarantined or treated for the illness, which causes vomiting and diarrhea and is highly contagious. More than 1,000 security guards have been sent home for fear that some have been affected and could spread the illness to athletes and spectators. Hand sanitizer and medical masks are now as ubiquitous around the media village as images of Soohorang, the white tiger mascot of Pyeongchang 2018.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach took nearly an hour’s worth of questions on the handling of Russian athletes in the wake of the nation’s doping scandal at a news conference in Pyeongchang. Just days before the start of the Games, 13 Russian athletes still were awaiting a ruling on whether they would be allowed to participate.

“I understand the confusion and I feel really sorry in particular for the athletes,” Bach said. “… The athletes can trust in the IOC that we will do everything to clarify this situation as soon as possible.”

Erin Hamlin will carry the U.S. flag into Friday night's Opening Ceremony at the Pyeongchang Olympics. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

U.S. luger Erin Hamlin was also on a dais this week, beaming after being chosen to carry the American flag at the Opening Ceremony, and only concerned with not tripping over her own feet with the world watching her Friday night.

“That will be way more nerve-wracking,” she said.

The Opening Ceremony will take place in the 35,000-seat Olympic Stadium in the mountains of Pyeongchang. Spectators can expect K-Pop performances, messages of unity, and temperatures so frigid that Team USA will be wearing heated parkas. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will be in attendance, bringing as his guest the father of Otto Warmbier, an American student who died after his arrest for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster during a tour of North Korea.

Elsewhere on Thursday, the contingent of North Korean athletes arrived in Pyeongchang, welcomed with dances and hugs by their neighbors to the south. A total of 22 athletes from North Korea will compete in these Games. Another 400 North Korean performers will take part in ceremonies here, as will Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Their inclusion in the Games — and especially the decision for North and South Korea to march under the same flag and compete together in women’s hockey — has been lauded as a symbol of peace during a time of increasing political tensions between Washington and Pyongyang.

“Last fall, when the political tensions were at the highest level, some people expressed security concerns for the athletes and put the organization of the Games itself in question,” Bach said this week. Now the IOC president says his organization “continues all the time to receive positive messages from different parties, including” North Korea.

But on the same day its athletes arrived in Gangneung, North Korea held a parade in its capital, an event to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of its military and a showcase of the country’s latest military technological advancements. The timing, it seemed, was not coincidental.

Back on a bus headed north toward the DMZ, a Korean tour guide said she hoped these Games would be marked by peace in the region, both now and, hopefully, in the future.

“Sport sometimes does good things,” she said.

Then, she added, “We always worry.”