North Korea will send athletes to Olympics in South Korea

North and South Korea agreed yesterday on negotiations to resolve problems and military talks intended to avert accidental conflict. In a joint statement after their first official dialogue in more than two years, the North also pledged to send a large delegation to next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Its delegation will be comprised of athletes, high-ranking officials, a cheering squad, art performers, and reporters and spectators. Working talks will be held soon to clarify the details of bringing the North Koreans to the Olympics.

“We have high expectations that the Olympics will turn out to be a peace festival with special guests from the North,” said South Korea’s unification minister, Cho Myoung-gyon. The discussions came after the US and South Korea announced last Thursday the suspension of military exercises during the Games.

A South Korean official explained: “When the ancient Greeks used to hold the Olympics, they held a truce. We are living in a civilized world. It is the logical choice.”

He is right. In addition, the modern Olympic Games were begun with the hope that cooperation by the world’s nations could prevent conflict and promote peace.

“Overcoming the divisions of our age”

Building community in response to conflict is more urgent today than ever.

In The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism, Yuval Levin makes the persuasive argument that our national future depends on rebuilding families, schools, churches, charities, markets, and local governments. He believes that the prevailing options in our society–empowering government vs. promoting individualism–are nostalgic desires for bygone eras.

According to Levin, the federal government grew exponentially as it responded to the Great Depression and two world wars. Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society codified this approach to social improvement, offering government-sponsored programs intended to address our…