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| North Korean women’s ice hockey players arrive at the South Korea’s national training center |
A delegation of North Korean officials and ice hockey players crossed the heavily guarded border into South Korea on Thursday for joint Olympics training, as Pyongyang called for all Koreans to seek unification of the two nations.
The group included 12 North Korean players who will form a combined womenโs ice hockey team with their southern counterparts at next monthโs Winter Olympics in the South Korean mountain resort of Pyeongchang.
Stepping off a bus after driving through large gates on the border, the athletes ignored questions as they were mobbed by throngs of media.
They wore puffy winter jackets in the white, blue, and red colours of North Koreaโs flag, with โDPR Koreaโ emblazoned on the back, referring to the countryโs official name, the Democratic Peopleโs Republic of Korea.
After going through South Korean checkpoints at the border, the team traveled to a national training centre in Jincheon, 90 km (56 miles) south of Seoul.
Under an agreement worked out during the first official talks between the two Koreas in two years, the joint team will wear unity jerseys and march under a unified peninsula flag at the Gamesโ opening ceremony on February 9.
Earlier on Thursday, North Korea sent a rare announcement addressed to โall Koreans at home and abroadโ, saying they should make a โbreakthroughโ for unification without the help of other countries, its state media said.
All Koreans should โpromote contact, travel, cooperation between North and South Koreaโ while adding Pyongyang will โsmashโ all challenges against reunification of the Korean peninsula.
The announcement, issued after a joint meeting of government and political parties, added Koreans should try to ease military tensions and create a peaceful climate on the Korean peninsula.
