N. Korean art troupe to perform during Olympics

Seoul, Pyongyang discuss joint women’s hockey team, which would be a first

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea will include a 140-member art troupe, the two sides agreed Monday, while discussions continue over fielding a joint women’s hockey team.

The two Koreas met Monday for the second time in a week as they try to hammer out details for the North’s participation in next month’s Games, which the South sees as a way to calm tensions caused by Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests.

North Korea said the art troupe will comprise 80 orchestra members and 60 members who sing and dance. The North Koreans will perform twice — once in Seoul and the other in the city of Gangneung, where some of the Olympic competitions will be held, according to South Korean delegates who attended the meeting.

Separately, South Korean Sports Ministry spokesman Hwang Seong Un said that the two Koreas have agreed in principle to field a joint women’s ice hockey team. The proposal requires International Olympic Committee approval. If realized, it would be the Koreas’ first unified Olympic team ever.

Officials from both Koreas are to meet with the International Olympic Committee at its headquarters in Switzerland on Saturday. The two sides agreed Monday to meet again at their border Wednesday for workinglevel talks.

North Korea last week agreed to send an Olympic delegation and hold military talks aimed at reducing front-line animosities in its first formal talks with South Korea in about two years. The North has said its delegation to the Feb. 9-25 Games in Pyeongchang would include the art troupe along with officials, athletes, cheerleaders, journalists and a taekwondo demonstration team.

The reasons for North Korea’s softer approach are not clear, though some analysts say the North may be trying to divide Seoul and Washington as a way to weaken pressure and sanctions on the country. North Korea carried out nuclear and missile tests last year that triggered harsher U.N. sanctions and worldwide condemnation.

Others speculate the North wants to use the Olympics to show it’s a normal country despite having nuclear weapons.

North Korea has insisted its talks with South Korea won’t deal with its nuclear and missile programs.