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The Winter Olympics has sparked to life in a vivid, colourful ceremony of fire and ice in South Korea, and the diplomacy was just as choreographed in the stadium where leaders from nations that are sworn enemies sat close together.
South Korea, which is using the Pyeongchang Games to break the ice with North Korea, seated its President alongside US Vice-President Mike Pence, with two of the North's most senior officials sitting in the row behind.
President Moon Jae-in, who wants to harness the Olympic spirit to pave the way for talks over the North's nuclear and missile program, shook hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister.
The South is still technically at war with the North after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, and the US and the North have recently swapped nuclear threats.
Underlining Mr Moon's efforts to re-engage with the North, the opening ceremony followed the storyline of children wandering through a mythical, snowy landscape and discovering a world where people live in peace and harmony.
The Olympics have provided some respite from years of tense relations between Seoul and Pyongyang, though just hours before the ceremony hundreds of anti-North Korean protesters scuffled with riot police outside the stadium, burning North Korean flags and pictures of Mr Kim.
South Korea's frigid February, where temperatures have plummeted to -20 degrees Celsius at night, has come as a shock to the system for athletes and visitors alike in the lead-up to these Games, prompting concerns about hypothermia at the opening ceremony.
The weather was a little milder than forecast on Friday, but spectators still huddled near heaters, holding hot packs and slurping down steaming fishcake soup to ward off the chills.
Bundled up in a scarf, mask and knitted hat, with hot packs tucked into her knee blanket, office worker Shin Hye-sook said she and her three colleagues were coping with the cold.
"It's OK unless the wind blows," the 60-year-old said.
"We're sitting as close as we can and trying not to move a lot to save our energy."
Pyeongchang has waited a long time for this moment.
The alpine town first bid for the 2010 Games but narrowly lost out to Vancouver, and suffered similar heartbreak when it was beaten to the 2014 Olympics by Sochi.
After announcing its arrival on the international stage by hosting the 1988 Seoul Olympics, South Korea now wants to show the world just how far it has come over the last 30 years, with a Games showcasing its culture and technological prowess.
According to Olympic tradition, the Greek contingent headed the parade of athletes into the open-air stadium, followed by the other delegations in order according to the Korean alphabet.
Mr Pence stood to welcome the US athletes as the Korean pop hit Gangnam Style blared around the stadium, sparking the "Horse Dance" in the crowd and among the volunteers.
Elsewhere in the stadium, a Kim Jong-un impersonator was not made as welcome as the North Koreans in the VIP box and was ejected by security.
"Well is my sister getting the same treatment?" he demanded to know.
As the athletes made their way around the track, one of the biggest cheers was reserved for muscle-bound Tongan Pita Taufatofua, who repeated his famed Rio Games entrance by marching in shirtless, oiled up and wearing a traditional skirt — this time in sub-zero temperatures.
Another flag-bearer who eschewed warm clothing was Bermuda's Tucker Murphy, who wore the territory's traditional red shorts.
It was a late entry into the arena for Australia with snowboarder Scotty James carrying the Australian flag.
Samaneh Beyrami Baher blinked back tears at the head of Iran's four-strong athletic delegation, and minutes later the crowd erupted as athletes from North and South Korea marched together under the unification flag for the first time at an Olympics since 2006.
A contingent of North Korean cheerleaders greeted the athletes by waving a controversial version of the flag depicting disputed islands known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese.
Norio Maruyama, press secretary at Japan's Foreign Ministry, said he had not seen the flag so he did not want to comment.
But he said the Games were a festival of peace and he did not want to undermine that aspect.
Reuters
Topics: winter-olympics, sport, korea-republic-of, asia
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