North Korea to send 22 athletes to PyeongChang Winter Games

Lausanne [Switzerland], Jan. 20 (ANI): North Korea will send 22 athletes to compete in three sports at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games in South Korea.

The two Korean teams will march together in the opening ceremony.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach made the announcement in the four-party meeting at the IOC headquarters here.

The meeting was attended by the representatives from the Pyeongchang Olympic Organising Committee and national Olympic bodies of the two Koreas, reports the Yonhap News Agency.

North Korea will also send 24 officials, including coaches, alongside the athletes in three sports and five disciplines.

The last time, the two Koreas marched together was the 2007 Asian Winter Games in Changchun, China.

North Korea has never participated in an Olympic Games in South Korea. Seoul, which hosted the Summer Olympics in 1988 was boycotted by North Korea.

Also, the two countries have never had a unified team in any sport at the Olympics before.

However, the two Koreas competed at the world table tennis championships and the world youth football championships as one country in 1991.

The Winter Olympics is scheduled to take place at South Korea's Pyeongchang from February 9-25.

The development between the two countries has brought some ease into their strained relations.

The two sides have also agreed to hold military talks on solving border tensions.

After the working-level talks, another meeting is scheduled to take place between the two countries on January 20. (ANI)