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North Korea to participate in Olympic Games in South Korea

North Korea is set to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games taking place in South Korea in February, after talks with South Korea officials, the first high-level talks in more than two years.

The delegation to represent North Korea will include athletes, officials, and supporters.

“The North side proposed dispatching a high-level delegation, National Olympic Committee delegation, athletes, supporters, art performers, observers, a taekwondo demonstration team and journalists,”  Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-Sung said.

The South proposed that athletes from both Koreas march together at the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang as they did at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

The South pushed for family reunions for those separated in the Korean war, a highly emotional issue for both countries, to take place during the Lunar New Year holiday which falls in the middle the Games.

The South also proposed resuming negotiations over military issues and the North’s nuclear programme.

South Korea said it would consider temporarily lifting sanctions, in coordination with the UN, to facilitate the North’s participation in the Olympics.

Meanwhile, North Korea’s response to all of the South’s proposals is yet unknown; however, remarks by the head of the North Korean delegation, Ri Son-gwon, were fairly neutral.

He hoped the talks would bring a “good gift” for the New Year and that the North had a “serious and sincere stance”.

The talk’s location

The talks began early on Tuesday in the Panmunjom “peace village” in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), at the border with five senior officials on each side.

In his New Year address, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un had said he was considering sending a team to the Olympics. South Korea’s Olympics Chief also said last year that the North’s athletes would be welcome.

Following Mr. Kim’s overture, South Korea proposed high-level talks to discuss North Korea’s participation, but North Korea only agreed to the talks after the US and South Korea agreed to delay their joint military exercises until after the Olympics.

Some critics in the US see the North’s move as an attempt to divide the US-South Korea alliance.

Last talks between North and South Korea

The last time both South and North Korea held talks was back in 2015, after which relations broke down following Seoul suspension of a joint economic project at the Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea following a rocket launch and nuclear test by North Korea.

The incident led to North Korea ending all communication with Seoul, including cutting off telephone lines.

Tensions have risen in years, as the North continues to rapidly advance its banned Nuclear Weapons Programme.

What might be expected at the Olympics?

Pyeongchang, approximately 180km east of Seoul, will host both the Winter Olympics in February and the Winter Paralympics in March.

There have been no official announcements on the make-up of the North Korean team.

Only two North Korean athletes had qualified for the Games; – Figure – skaters Ryom Tae-Ok and Kim Ju-Sik – although even they missed the participation deadline and would need IOC clearance.

There may be possible wild-card entries, perhaps in short-track speed skating and Nordic skiing, but this has not been confirmed.

North Korea has participated in the Olympics before, but not in South Korea. It boycotted the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

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