North Korean ice hockey players to visit Seoul Thursday
By Kim Bo-eun
North Korean female ice hockey players will arrive in Seoul Thursday for joint training with their South Korean counterparts ahead of next month’s PyeongChang Winter Olympics, as part of a larger delegation that will inspect facilities for the Games.
The two Koreas agreed to field a joint women’s team for the Olympics, but have yet to finalize a training schedule with only about two weeks remaining until its Feb. 9 start.
The ice hockey delegation is comprised of 12 players, a coach and two assistants.
Other delegates will check our facilities for the large-scale North Korean contingent that will participate in the Games, including athletes, 230 cheerleaders, a taekwondo demonstration team and reporters.
The delegation will inspect stadiums as well as accommodation.
Meanwhile, a South Korean delegation that made a three-day visit to the North to examine performance halls at Mount Geumgang as well as the Masikryong Ski Resort and its accommodation will return Thursday.
This was the first visit by South Korean officials to North Korea since the Gaeseong Industrial Complex was shut down in February 2016.
They used the land route on the east coast, for the first time in over two years since October 2015 when the last reunion between family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War took place.
The team inspected sites where inter-Korean events are scheduled to be held ― a joint cultural event at Mount Geumgang and inter-Korean ski training at Masikryong ahead of the Games.
The delegates checked the performance hall at Mount Geumgang, which has fallen into disuse.
South Korean tourism to the scenic mountain was halted in 2008, when a tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier for wandering off-limits.
The cultural performance to take place at Mount Geumgang will likely be a one-day event at the end of this month or early next month. The joint training is set to take place over two days.
The delegation is set to visit Kalma International Airport in Wonsan on Thursday, to check whether South Korean skiers taking part in the training will be able to travel by air.
The Koreas also agreed for a 140-member North Korean orchestral music troupe to perform in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Feb. 9, and in Seoul, Feb. 11.
Earlier this week, a delegation led by music troupe leader Hyon Song-wol made a two-day visit to the South to check performance facilities.
North Korea’s delegation to the Olympics will also include high-level officials, but no details have been given so far on who Pyongyang will send.
The government said it will cover expenses incurred from the visits by North Korean delegations ahead of the Games through the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund. Pyongyang is also likely pay for South Korean delegates’ visits to the North.