South Korean basketball teams arrive in Pyongyang

The South Korean women's and men's basketball teams arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday (July 3) for a series of friendly games with their North Korean counterparts.

The games will be held between July 4 and 5 and mark the anniversary of a 1972 inter-Korean agreement on unification, the two sides said last month. They are the first series of friendly basketball matches between the two Koreas since October 2003, according to South Korean media.

A delegation of 100 people including players, officials and journalists departed from South Korea's Seoul Air Base earlier in the day. Hotel staff in the North Korean capital cheered as the players arrived.

The two Koreas agreed to hold the series of basketball matches in the North last month. They also agreed to march together under a unified peninsula flag and form combined teams to compete in the next Asian Games, which will be held in Indonesia from mid-August to early September.

The agreement comes as the two Koreas are holding a number of talks to discuss deepening their ties, including opening military hotlines and arranging family reunions for Koreans divided by the 1950-1953 Korean War. (Reuters)