Joint Korean teams start training for Asian Games
North Korean athletes arrived in the South yesterday for joint training ahead of next month's Asian Games, the latest effort at rare cross-border sports diplomacy.
The two Koreas agreed last month to field joint teams in three sports - canoeing, rowing and women's basketball - at the Asiad in Jakarta and Palembang from Aug 18 to Sept 2.
Dressed in matching light blue outfits, the delegation of 34 athletes and coaches landed at Incheon International Airport via Beijing.
Their exact schedules have yet to be determined but the North Koreans are expected to begin training with their South Korean teammates next week.
It is the first time North and South Korea have formed unified teams to compete at the Asian Games.
MARCHING TOGETHER
The two countries - which are technically still at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice instead of a peace treaty - will also march together at the opening and closing ceremonies in Indonesia.
The move follows an agreement between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South's president Moon Jae In at their summit in April.
Sporting cooperation helped spark the current diplomatic thaw between the two Koreas after the North sent a high-level delegation and athletes to the Winter Olympics held in the South in February.
The two Koreas formed their first-ever unified Olympic team - a joint women's ice hockey squad - for February's Games in the South Korean resort of Pyeongchang. - AFP
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