![North Korea will send a delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea 1 North Korea will send a delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea 0](https://nucuoixinh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/nucuoixinh.com-north-korea-will-send-a-delegation-to-the-winter-olympics-in-south-korea-1.jpg)
North Korea will send a delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea 0
South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-Gyon shakes hands with North Korean delegation head Ri Son-Gwon.
North and South Korean delegations this morning shared proposals at their first official meeting in more than two years at the border village of Panmunjom in the inter-Korean demilitarized zone.
In addition to sending athletes, North Korea also proposed sending a high-level delegation, fans, cheerleaders, art performers and a taekwondo demonstration team to attend the Winter Olympics, AFP quoted Thursday.
Meanwhile, Seoul called for resuming the reunion of families separated by the Korean War (1950 – 1953) during the Lunar New Year, at the same time as the Olympics.
The last time the two countries marched together under the Korean Peninsula flag was more than 10 years ago, at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
`Let’s give the people a precious New Year’s gift,` said Mr. Ri, head of the North Korean delegation.
The meeting atmosphere was friendlier than previous meetings, and Mr. Cho told Mr. Ri that Seoul believes `guests from North Korea will join many other guests from around the world` at the Olympics.
The atmosphere was completely different from the rhetoric of recent months, in which North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump personally attacked each other and threatened war.
Seoul wants to call the Games in the town of Pyeongchang, just 80 kilometers from the demilitarized zone (DMZ), the `Peace Olympics`, but needs Pyongyang’s participation for the description to make sense.
In Mr. Kim’s New Year’s speech, North Korea could participate in the Olympics and Seoul responded with an offer of high-level dialogue.
Issues that need to be clarified now include whether the two countries’ delegations will enter together at the opening and closing of the Olympics, the number of people in the North Korean delegation and their whereabouts.
North Korea currently only has two athletes qualified to participate in this international sporting event, but hundreds of North Korean female cheerleaders have made a splash at three previous international sporting events in South Korea.
The high-ranking delegation accompanying the team may include Kim Yo-jong, sister of leader Kim Jong-un, a senior member of the Korean Workers’ Party.