North And South Korea To Form Joint Olympic Team, March Together At Pyeongchang Games

North and South Korea announced on Wednesday they will form a joint women’s ice hockey team at the Winter Olympics in February, and that they plan to have their athletes march together for the opening ceremony under one flag.

North and South Korea 2018 joint Olympic Team news

The agreement is a milestone in inter-Korean sports relationships. Seoul has previously stated it hoped such a move could lead to a political softening following years of high tensions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests.

The Games, which begin Feb. 9 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, will mark the first time the two Koreas have agreed to a joint Olympic team, which will compete under a single flag. It will also be the first unified team since athletes from both Koreas played together for an international table-tennis championship and a youth soccer match in 1991. Athletes from both Koreas marched together during the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, as well as for the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Summer Games. The last time they marched together was in the 2007 Asian Winter Games.

Discussions for a joint team were held at the border village of Panmunjom. The North will send 230 fans to the Games, and negotiators agreed that supporters of both Koreas would root together for athletes from both nations.

President Moon Jae-in of South Korea has been encouraging dialogue with the North. However, North Korea has also caught in itself in a feud with the United States, as President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un have traded verbal jabs in recent months over their respective countries’ nuclear capabilities.

South Korean officials stated Wednesday that the North’s delegation would include at least 550 people, including about 150 to the Paralympic Games in March. However, the joint news statement said the final number would be determined in Switzerland on Saturday, when the International Olympic Committee brings together officials from both countries. The plan is for the North’s athletes to enter the South over a land border on Feb. 1.

Thus far, the Only North Korean athletes to qualify for the Pyeongchang Games are a pairs figure skating team. North Korea missed an Oct. 31 deadline to accept invitations from South Korea and the IOC to join the Games.

South Korean media outlets have reported that the South asked the IOC to allow a unified hockey team to have an expanded roster, so that none of the South Korean players would have to bow out of the games.

SOCHI, RUSSIA – MARCH 16: The Russia and South Korea flags fly as a performer sings during the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games Closing Ceremony at Fisht Olympic Stadium on March 16, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images)