By Kim Bo-eun
North Korea will send a 140-member orchestral music troupe to the PyeonChang Winter Olympics, the unification ministry said Monday.
The agreement came following an inter-Korean meeting at Tongilgak on the northern side of the truce village of Panmunjeom.
Pyongyang asked that its delegation travel overland, passing through Panmunjeom, the ministry said.
The art troupe will perform in Seoul and Gangneung, Gangwon Province. The delegations will hold further meetings to discuss the logistics of the performances, and a team from the North will visit to arrange the details.
The South agreed to provide safety and accommodation assistance for the North Korean troupe.
As this will consist of 140 members, the delegation from the North will be much larger due to the inclusion of athletes, a cheering squad and high-level officials.
The two Koreas will discuss the remaining details at the Peace House on the southern side of Panmunjeom, Wednesday.
They agreed to hold the working-level talks to discuss the participation in the Games starting next month.
Pyongyang said it will dispatch three delegates, led by Jon Jong-su, the vice chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea. The South agreed to the offer, officials said.
The two are expected to arrange details of the visit of athletes, the cheering squad and a taekwondo demonstration team, including the size of the delegation and its travel route.
They are also likely to discuss whether athletes from the North and South will make a joint entrance under a unified flag for the opening and closing ceremonies, a proposition made by the South last week.
In inter-Korean talks last week, held for the first time in almost two years, the Koreas agreed for the North to send the athletes, cheering squad, and performing arts and taekwondo demonstration teams to the Games.
Following the talks, Seoul proposed holding follow-up meetings to discuss the participation of North Korean athletes, but Pyongyang proposed details of the performance teams be discussed first.
Delegates led by Lee Woo-sung, head of the South Korean culture ministry's culture and arts policy office, and Kwon Hyok-bong, director of the performing arts bureau at North Korea's culture ministry, met at 10 a.m. at Tongilgak on the North side of Panmunjeom.
Other delegates representing the South were Korean Symphony Orchestra CEO Lee Won-choul, orchestra artistic director Chong Chi-yong and unification ministry official Han Jong-wook.
From the North were Moranbong Band leader Hyon Song-wol, orchestra musician Kim Sun-ho and stage manager An Chong-ho.
Representatives of the two Koreas will attend an International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Lasusanne, Switzerland, Saturday, to fine-tune details of the North Korean delegation, such as the number of athletes.
The South proposed the Koreas organize a joint women's ice hockey team for the Games.
"Talks are proceeding toward enabling this to happen but details such as the size of the team have yet to be arranged," unification ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said in a briefing Monday.
If this is agreed upon, it will not be the first for the Koreas to take part in an international sporting event under a joint team. An inter-Korean team took part in the World Table Tennis championships in 1991. However, a joint team will be a first for a multi-discipline event such as the Olympics.
Despite easing tensions with progress in inter-Korean dialogue, the North's Korean Central News Agency attacked South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Sunday, for crediting the progress to U.S. President Donald Trump in a New Year address last week.
The state media referred to Moon's words as "ill-boding remarks chilling the atmosphere for reconciliation."
Regarding these remarks, Baik said "The South Korean government believes efforts to improve inter-Korean relations with a spirit of mutual understanding and respect is important."
The Koreas began dialogue in the New Year, after a serious of provocations by Pyongyang last year including its sixth nuclear test and the launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles. They have yet to address multiple issues including the resumption of reunifications of family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War and, ultimately, Pyongyang's denuclearization. The North's chief delegate in talks last week expressed discomfort when the issues were brought up.
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