A Korean unity deal for the Winter Olympics is to bring 22 North Korean athletes across the border to South Korea, where they are to march as one under a unification flag at the opening ceremony and compete together in one sport.
In the agreement approved on Saturday, 12 North Korean women’s hockey players are to join their neighbors in a united roster playing in special uniforms with a Korean song as their anthem.
North Koreans are to also compete in figure skating, short track speed skating, Alpine skiing and cross-country skiing after being given exceptional late entries by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The North Korean delegation is also to include 24 coaches and officials, plus 21 media representatives.
The governments of North and South Korea were offered “sincere thanks” by IOC president Thomas Bach announcing the agreement.
Bach said the IOC has since 2014 talked with Olympic officials from both countries separately to see if the Pyenongchang Games could be the catalyst for peace-making.
“This was not an easy journey,” said Bach, who competed in fencing at the Olympics for West Germany when it was divided from its neighbor to the east.
The united women’s hockey team is to be the first time the two Koreas will have joined together in Olympic events. They are to play under the Olympic code of “COR” — the French acronym for Korea — and hear the song Arirang as a pre-game anthem.
The roster is to include 12 players from the North and 23 from the South, but to maintain fairness for opponents, only 22 can suit up for each game. At least three must be North Korean, the IOC said.
The 22 athletes are not expected to win a first Winter Games medal for North Korea since 1992, when they won a bronze in women’s short track speed skating.
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