North Korean hockey players cross the border to join up with Southern compatriots for Winter Olympics

The North Koreans travel to an athletes’ village in southern South Korea, where they are welcomed by their South Korean teammates

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‘We are one’, declared the North and South Korean Winter Olympians as they joined up at the South Korean national training centre in Jincheon. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:33pm, 25 Jan 2018Updated: 3:35pm, 25 Jan 2018

Female hockey players from the rival Koreas were paired up with each other on Thursday to form their first-ever Olympic squad during next month’s Pyeongchang Winter Games, as their countries press ahead with rare reconciliation steps following a period of nuclear tensions.

A dozen North Korean hockey players wearing white-and-red winter parkas crossed the heavily fortified border into South Korea earlier on Thursday, as about 30-40 conservative activists shouted anti-Pyongyang slogans at a nearby border area.

The North Koreans travelled on to a national athletes’ village in southern South Korea, where they were welcomed by their South Korean teammates and Canadian coach Sarah Murray, who presented them with flower bouquets in an outdoor welcoming ceremony.

North Korean women’s ice hockey players arrive at South Korea’s national training centre in Jincheon, South Korea. Photo: EPA

“I sincerely welcome your arrival,” Lee Jae-kun, head of the athletes’ village, told the North Koreans after they got off a bus.

Park Chol Ho, a North Korean coach who arrived with the 12 athletes and two support staff, told reporters that he is happy to team up with South Koreans.

“I’m very pleased with the fact that North and South are united as one to participate in (the Olympics). I expect we’ll see good results if we unite our efforts ... though we don’t have much time,” he said.

North Korean hockey players cross the border to join up with Southern compatriots for Winter Olympics

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The North Koreans travel to an athletes’ village in southern South Korea, where they are welcomed by their South Korean teammates

The North Koreans travel to an athletes’ village in southern South Korea, where they are welcomed by their South Korean teammates