Seeing Bounty Abroad, Will North Koreans Change Their Homeland?

Tae Ok-ryom and Ju Sik-kim of North Korea during the pairs free skating competition at the Winter Olympics on Thursday.GANGNEUNG, South Korea — When the North Korean figure skaters Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik took to the ice this week, cheerleaders chanting their names stowed the unified Korean flags they had waved at other events here at the Pyeongchang Olympics and whipped out their national flag.

After that unmistakable outburst of patriotic fervor, it was all the more incongruous when the pair began skating to a distinctly Western song: “Day in the Life” by the Beatles, in a cover by Jeff Beck.

“I have no clue how they chose it,” said Bruno Marcotte, a prominent French Canadian coach. He…