North, South Korea form unified team at worlds

North and South Korea opted against playing each other at the world table tennis championships on Thursday, deciding instead to field a joint women’s team for the semifinals.

The move earned a round of applause from world table tennis officials as the two teams told umpires they did not want to clash in the Thursday morning tie, against a backdrop of inter-Korean reconciliation.

In a statement the International Table Tennis Federation [ITTF] said it had approved the decision for the teams to unite for a semifinal on Friday after both sides opted against playing their quarterfinal.

“Instead, both teams requested that they want to form a unified Korean team to compete together in the semifinal,” the statement added.

The decision to form a unified team “was a tripartite one between the leaders of the North and South Korean Table Tennis teams and the ITTF.”

The move was the latest sporting proof of the thaw in relations between the two Koreas that began at the Pyeongchang Olympics in February when they marched together at the opening ceremony and fielded a joint women’s hockey team.

Last week diplomatic rapprochement broke historic ground when North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited South Korea for a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

North and South Korea formed a joint table tennis team once before, at the world championships in Chiba, Japan in 1991, when they won the women’s team title.