Two Koreas agree to march together at Olympics opening ceremony; field unified women's ice hockey team

By Park SI-soo

The two Koreas on Wednesday agreed to form a combined women's ice hockey team to take part in next month's Winter Olympics in PyeongChange and march together under a unified peninsula flag at the opening ceremony, a joint statement released by Seoul's unification ministry said.

North Korea will send a 550-member delegation of about 550, including 230 cheerleaders, 140 artists and 30 taekwondo players for a demonstration, the statement said.

The delegation is scheduled to begin arriving in South Korea on Jan. 25, the statement said.

The North's delegation will use a western land route that leads to the now-shuttered joint industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Gaesong.

The two Koreas also agreed to hold a joint cultural event at Mount. Kumgang in the North before the opening ceremony and to conduct a joint training among ski athletes at Masikryong Ski Resort in the North.

The outcome of Wednesday's talks is expected to be discussed at the International Olympic Committee's meeting with officials from the Koreas scheduled for Saturday in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The agreement marked a major breakthrough in years of frosty ties between the two countries and in last year's heightened tensions over the North's nuclear and missile provocations.

South Korea is carefully reviewing ways to greet the North's Olympic delegation in a way that does not violate multilayered sanctions on the North.

Under U.N. sanctions, the South can't offer cash directly to the North when it supports delegates' accommodation expenses.

Sea travel could be in violation of South Korea's unilateral sanctions that ban the entry to South Korea of any vessel that has sailed to North Korea within the past 12 months.