DAVID GREENE, HOST:
All right. Today, a dozen North Korean hockey players crossed the border into South Korea. The women are forming a joint Korean team to compete in the Winter Olympics there. This is part of an effort to show unity, even if it does not address big overall issues like ending the North's nuclear weapons program.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
First comes the challenge of unifying the players into a single team. The coach who must lead that effort is Sarah Murray, a Canadian. Today, she greeted the North Korean players with flowers. But Murray admitted earlier in the week, she's facing a challenge.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SARAH MURRAY: It is a tough situation to have our team be used for political reasons, but, you know, it's kind of something that's bigger than ourselves right now.
INSKEEP: She says one obstacle is that the North Korean players just aren't as good as the South Koreans.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MURRAY: I've been assured that I have ultimate control. They keep saying that it's my choice about the lineup; it's my choice who plays. So as far as I know, I have complete control, and I'm going to play the players that I want (laughter).
GREENE: That little laugh there makes me wonder, given the diplomatic stakes, if Murray may find that by the time the Olympics begin next month, a number of Korean officials will have suddenly become hockey experts.
(SOUNDBITE OF OLYMPIC ANTHEM ORCHESTRA AND STEPHEN RUCKER'S "HOPE OF A NATION")