DPRK, ROK agree to march together
Pyongyang will send a 550-member delegation to Winter Olympics
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea agreed during talks on Wednesday to form a combined women’s ice hockey team to take part in next month’s Winter Olympics in the ROK city of Pyeongchang, and march together under a unified peninsula flag at the opening ceremony, a joint statement released by ROK’s Unification Ministry said in a statement.
The DPRK will send a 550member delegation, including 230 cheerleaders, 140 artists and 30 Taekwondo players for a demonstration, the ministry said.
The delegation was scheduled to begin arriving in the ROK on Jan 25, it said.
Skiers from the two countries would conduct joint training sessions at the DPRK’s Masik Pass resort.
During the dialogue, the DPRK informed the ROK of the size of its Olympic cheering squad when officials met at the border for the third time in less than 10 days to discuss how to cooperate in the Olympics.
Yu Shaohua, director of China Institute of International Studies, said the discussion on the art performance would be relatively smooth since the two sides have experience on jointly holding concerts and sports event.
“The DPRK has sent its cheering squad to the ROK before and ROK celebrities have performed on the other side as well,” she said.
In 2002, the DPRK sent a 288-member cheering squad to the Busan Asian Games for the first time. In 2003 and 2005, DPRK cheering squads went to ROK for events.
The DPRK has proposed using the land route in the west region to let its athletes, cheering squad and other delegations cross the inter-Korean border.
The ROK’s Unification Ministry also said that the DPRK also told the ROK that it has a plan to send a delegation to the Pyeongchang Paralympics set for March 9-18.
A detailed makeup of the DPRK Paralympics delegation will be determined in further talks between the two sides, the ministry said.
The DPRK confirmed in Monday’s talk that it would send a 140-member orchestra and hold concerts in Seoul and Gangneung near Pyeongchang for the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games.
Despite its plans to send big delegation, the DPRK currently has no officially qualified athletes for Pyeongchang, though the International Olympic Committee recently said it has “kept the door open” for DPRK to take part in the Games.
ROK President Moon Jae-in said during a meeting with athletes on Wednesday that it would be a historic event that moves the hearts of people around the world if athletes from the two sides competed together during the Olympics.
However, such a proposal raised worries and concerns among ROK athletes.
“Adding somebody so close to the Olympics is a little bit dangerous just for team chemistry because the girls have been together for so long,” said Sarah Murray, head coach of the ROK’s women’s ice hockey team, on Tuesday.
The two sides will have another meeting with the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Saturday to discuss other athlete-related issues.
Xinhua, AP and AFP contributed to this story.