Kim Jong Un’s Sister Ends Her Olympics Visit After Delivering Hopes For a Summit

(GANGNEUNG, South Korea) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister headed home Sunday night after a whirlwind three days in South Korea, where she sat among world dignitaries at the Olympics and tossed a diplomatic offer to the South aimed at ending seven decades of hostility.

Kim Yo Jong and the rest of the North Korean delegation departed for Pyongyang on her brother’s private jet, a day after they delivered his hopes for a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in during a lunch at Seoul’s presidential palace. It was a sharp, but possibly fleeting, contrast with many months of rising tensions connected to the North’s continued development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

They capped their final day in South Korea by joining Moon at a Seoul concert given by a visiting North Korean art troupe led by the head of the immensely popular Moranbong band, whose young female members are hand-picked by Kim Jong Un.

Accepting North Korea’s demand to transport more than 100 members of the art troupe by sea, South Korea treated the Mangyongbong-92 ferry as an exemption to the maritime sanctions it imposed on the North, a controversial move amid concerns that the North is trying to use the Olympics to poke holes in international sanctions.

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon hosted the North Koreans for lunch Sunday before Moon’s chief of staff, Im Jong-seok, hosted them for dinner ahead of the concert.

Kim Yo Jong, 30, is an increasingly prominent figure in her brother’s government and the first member of the North’s ruling family to visit the South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The North Korean delegation also included the country’s 90-year-old head of state, Kim Yong Nam.

In dispatching the highest level of government officials the North has ever sent to the South, Kim Jong Un revealed a sense of urgency to break out of deep diplomatic isolation in the face of toughening sanctions over his nuclear program, analysts say.

“Honestly, I didn’t know I would come here so suddenly. I thought things would be strange and very different, but I found a lot of things being similar,” Kim said while proposing a toast at Sunday’s dinner, according to Moon’s office. “Here’s to hoping that we could see the pleasant people (of the South) again in Pyeongchang and bring closer the future where we are one again.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Sunday rejected any suggestion that even a temporary warming of relations between the North and South could drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington.

It’s too early to say, Mattis said, “if using the Olympics in a way to reduce tension – if that’s going to have any traction once the Olympics are over. We can’t say right now.”

South Korea accommodated both the North Korean government officials and members of the art troupe at the Walkerhill hotel in Seoul. The riverside facility is named after late U.S. Army commander Walton Walker, who’s considered a war hero in the South for his battles against the North during the Korean War. It was built in the 1960s under the government of late anti-communist dictator Park Chung-hee as a luxury facility for U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

The North Koreans went through a busy schedule in South Korea as the world watched their every move. They were whisked back and forth between Seoul and the Olympic towns of Pyeongchang and Gangneung.

They shared the VIP box with world leaders at the opening ceremony and joined Moon in cheering for the first-ever inter-Korean Olympic team as it debuted in the women’s ice hockey tournament. Saturday’s game ended in a crushing 8-0 loss to Switzerland.

The most important part of the visit, however, came during one of the quieter moments.

Invited by Moon for lunch at Seoul’s presidential palace, Kim Yo Jong verbally delivered her brother’s hope for a summit with Moon in Pyongyang, a meeting that she said would help significantly improve ties after an extended period of animosity.

“We hope that President (Moon) could leave a legacy that would last over generations by leading the way in opening a new era of unification,” she said, according to Moon’s office.

Though Moon has used the Olympics to resurrect meaningful communication with North Korea after a diplomatic stalemate over its nuclear program, he didn’t immediately jump on the North Korean offer for a summit.

He said the Koreas should create an environment so that a summit could take place. He also called for the need of a quick resumption of dialogue between North Korea and the United States.

After arriving in Seoul on Friday, the North Koreans attended a chilly opening ceremony at Pyeongchang’s Olympic Stadium, taking their place among world dignitaries, including U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who seemed to go out of their way to not acknowledge the North Koreans despite sitting just few feet (meters) away.

Analysts say Kim Jong Un’s decision to send his sister to the South reflected an eagerness to break out of diplomatic isolation by improving ties with the South, which the country could eventually use as a bridge to approach the United States. The U.S.-led international community has been tightening the screws on North Korea with sanctions designed to punish its economy and rein in its efforts to expand its nuclear weapons and missile program, which now includes developmental long-range missiles targeting the U.S. mainland.

By also sending a youthful, photogenic individual who would surely draw international attention at the Olympics, Kim might have also been trying to construct a fresher image of the country, particularly in face of U.S. efforts to use the Olympics as an occasion to highlight the North’s brutal human rights record.

Always flanked by thick groups of bodyguards, Kim Yo Jong commanded attention wherever she went, walking among throngs of journalists with a quiet poise and occasionally shooting an enigmatic smile at cameras.

The Koreas previously held summits in 2000 and 2007, both hosted in Pyongyang by Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un’s late father. The previous meetings came after rounds of international talks aimed at eliminating the North’s nuclear program, which eventually failed.

Moon has always expressed a desire to reach out to North Korea. Reviving inter-Korean dialogue is critical for the policies of Moon, who insists that Seoul should be in control in international efforts to deal with the North Korean nuclear issue.

“The fate of our nation must be determined by our own selves — we must not allow the repeat of unfortunate past history where our fate was determined with no regard to our opinions,” Moon said in a speech to South Korean lawmakers in November.

But analysts say it may be more difficult for the South to arrange a summit with the North coming off a year in which Pyongyang test-fired dozens of missiles, including three ICBMs, and conducted its most powerful nuclear test to date.

South Korea may also need to persuade traditional allies the United States and Japan, which have raised concerns that the North is attempting to use its outreach as a release valve for international pressure.

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Why Yu Darvish is the ultimate risk-reward signing for the title-chasing Cubs

The Chicago Cubs struck back in the NL Central arms race, inking Yu Darvish to a six-year contract worth a guaranteed $126 million.

The deal, which could pay Darvish up to $150 million overall, fills a glaring area of need for a team that’s made the NLCS three years in a row, with a little something else thrown in for good measure. With Jake Arrieta filing for free agency and John Lackey retiring, Chicago needed starting pitching help, even after nabbing Tyler Chatwood on a somewhat speculative three-year pact.

This is more than just a big-revenue team filling a hole by throwing money at a problem, though. By signing the four-time All-Star, the Cubs perked up what had been a quiet offseason for one of baseball’s glamour teams, and a shockingly quiet Hot Stove season for MLB as a whole.

The Cubs taking this long to sign Darvish isn’t merely a function of a slow-moving offseason. Few big-ticket free agents of recent vintage have brought this striking a combination of risk, and reward.

When he calls it quits one day, Darvish will go down as one of the greatest prodigies in baseball history. Six-foot-five, strong and athletic, with blazing fastball velocity and a beguiling array of breaking pitches, he was already a superstar at Tokohu High School in Japan. With that stardom came the frightening workloads that managers heap on star pitchers in their quest for the coveted Koshien National High School Baseball Championship. It was Darvish’s 2004 no-hitter in that tournament that rocketed interest in the big righty into orbit.

By age 18, Darvish was firing high-leverage innings at the pro level, for the Nippon Ham Fighters. At age 19, he led the Fighters to their first pennant in 25 years, while firing 149 2/3 innings and clocking a 2.89 ERA. That’s the great paradox of wunderkind pitchers, of course: The dazzling ability at a young age that makes scouts drool also make doctors and trainers wince at the prospect of rebuilding a damaged arm at some point in the future.

In Darvish’s case, that setback didn’t crop up until a decade after that magical no-no, with elbow inflammation knocking him out for the stretch run in 2014, followed by Tommy John surgery the following March. Going under the knife didn’t slow him down at first, though; on the contrary, Darvish’s fastball spiked to career-high levels after his return from surgery.

But after an impressive 17 starts in his 2016 return season, Darvish posted some of the worst numbers of his major league career in 2017, with his ERA spiking to a near career-worst 3.86, in large part due to the career-high 27 homers he surrendered over 31 starts. Still, Darvish remains one of the most prolific strikeout artists in baseball, ranking seventh among MLB starting pitchers in K rate since since his return.

Darvish also suffers from the incurable condition of being a pitcher. While the rate of Tommy John surgeries has dropped somewhat from recently terrifying peak levels, predicting how a pitcher will fare over the next six seasons is a fool’s errand of the highest degree. As data-heavy and details-focused as today’s front offices are, baseball by and large still doesn’t know a damn thing when it comes to predicting long-term pitching performance. Given that Darvish’s contract could take him past his 37th birthday in what’s increasingly becoming a young man’s sport, it’s hard not to see the red flags flashing everywhere.

The flip side to all that gloom and doom is there are real rewards to be had here. For starters, the going rate for free agents is approaching $9 million per win, if we use Wins Above Replacement as a baseline. WAR is by no means a perfect measuring tool, and a panoply of other factors can and do affect how much teams pay for talent on the open market. Still, the Cubs have valued Darvish as roughly a 2.5-win player based on the $21 million a year he’ll rake in. Yes, his history of big workloads and elbow issues are alarming. He’s also going to make less per year than the far, far, far less talented Jordan Zimmerman got back in 2015. That’s a happy outcome.  

There’s also this: The Cubs might not have to keep paying Darvish until he’s 37. According to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, they might not have to pay him for more than two seasons, if Crasnick’s report of a potential opt-out clause after two years proves to be accurate.

Most importantly, the Cubs are still rolling out a loaded core led by All-Star corners Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. That core became threatened by the upstart Brewers this offseason, after Milwaukee reeled in two toolsy-as-hell outfielders in Christian Yelich (who the Crew liked enough to trade multiple quality prospects to get) and Lorenzo Cain (who’d been the highest-paid free agent this winter before the Darvish signing).

When the Brewers made an offer to Darvish as a potential coup de grace, the Cubs had good reason to get nervous, and to reach into their war chest. With staff ace Jimmy Nelson possibly out until June and Milwaukee already loading up on talent, expect the club’s attention to turn to other free agents such as Lance Lynn or Alex Cobb, with the possibility of an Arrieta signing looming as a delicious way to further stoke what could be an electrifying NL Central race (even if some of the computers don’t agree). With Darvish off the board, don’t be surprised if this winter’s stalemate breaks, and the other significant arms still out there get scooped up in the next few days.

One popular narrative that emerged last fall painted Darvish as an overly sensitive soul who folds under pressure. His ugly outings in Game 3 and Game 7 of the World Series, in which Darvish became just the second pitcher in World Series history to last fewer than two innings in two different starts, turned whispers into horrified screams.

Color me skeptical. Sportswriters love both post-hoc analysis and psychoanalyzing players almost as much as they love Springsteen. Barry Bonds was a flashy jerk of a player who couldn’t come through in the clutch … until he annihilated everything in his path during the Giants’ 2002 run to the Fall Classic. Alex Rodriguez was a prima donna stat-padder who saved his home runs for 8-0 games … until he put the Yankees on his back and led them to their 27th World Series crown in 2009.

Baseball’s playoffs whack us with the dreaded one-punch of misleadingly tiny sample sizes and heightened stakes, which can cause to lose our minds and push half-baked theories, rather than just accepting the universal truth that sometimes, bad things just happen. Darvish crapped the bed in two straight starts, with the entire baseball world watching … and also dominated in his two previous 2017 postseason starts, allowing a single run in both his NLDS and NLCS outings last year.

The Cubs have World Series aspirations of their own, and there’s a good chance Darvish will get multiple opportunities to prove his mettle in October. The smart money says that this deal will still sink or swim based on how well his oft-used golden arm holds up under the 30-start grind of multiple regular seasons, not the weird randomness that washes over playoff baseball. Yu can bet the house on it.

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