Some in South Korea have been less than pleased. Last month, Hong Joon-pyo, the leader of the conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party, warned that the Pyeongchang Olympics were becoming the Pyongyang Olympics, a cheeky play on the similar sounding name of the North Korean capital, which has already caused confusion.

North Korea canceled a cultural event it had planned in South Korea a few days before the opening ceremony on Friday, blaming what it called “insulting” news media coverage in South Korea.

But the fascination has hardly ebbed.

The joint Korean women’s hockey team, which features 12 North Korean women joining the South Korean team, has become a compelling story line of the Games. There are also three cross-country skiers, three Alpine skiers and two short-track speedskaters from North Korea set to compete.

The appearance of North Korean flags at the athletes’ village on Thursday and Friday — a rare sight in South Korea, where such displays would normally be illegal — created a couple of days of news. And then there were the reports on Saturday that more than 150,000 people had entered a lottery for tickets to a pair of performances next week by a 140-member North Korean art troupe.

The zeal with which the local press has pursued the North Korean visitors could be seen late Friday at the skating rink, where the short-track speedskaters Choe Un-song and Jong Kwang-bom were working out alongside skaters from France, Italy and Latvia.

When the North Korean skaters and their coach huddled along the railing to talk, a dozen reporters crept as close as possible to observe the interactions and snap pictures. Minutes later, when the North Koreans regrouped farther down the rink, the pack sidled that way, too. On they went this way, like moths to a flame.

Things became hectic midway through the session after Choe lost his footing around a turn and crashed into the perimeter padding with a thud.