The overtly political 2018 Winter Olympics have closed very much as they began, with humanity's finest athletes marching across the world stage as three nations with decades of war and suspicion among them shared a VIP box - and a potential path away from conflict.
Senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US presidential adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump sat in two rows of seats behind the Olympic rings, meant to represent a competition of peace and international unity. In close proximity - though with no apparent communication between Trump and Kim - they watched a spirited, elaborate show that concluded the Pyeongchang Games.
Even as dancers performed cultural stories to music before an enormous crowd, South Korea's presidential office released a brief statement saying that Pyongyang had expressed willingness to hold talks with Washington.
The North has "ample intentions of holding talks with the United States," according to the office. The North's delegation also agreed that "South-North relations and US-North Korean relations should be improved together," Moon's office, known as the Blue House, said.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, just before declaring the games closed, addressed the two Koreas' cooperation at the closing ceremony, saying, "The Olympic games are an homage to the past and an act of faith for the future."
"With your joint march you have shared your faith in a peaceful future with all of us," Bach said. "You have shown our sport brings people together in our very fragile world. You have shown how sport builds bridges."
It was all an extraordinary bookend to an extraordinary Olympics that featured unexpected lurches forward toward a new detente on the Korean Peninsula.
