DPRK's athletes arrive in S.Korea for Winter Olympics

Athletes from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) arrived in South Korea Thursday to participate in the South Korea-hosted Winter Olympics, according to local media reports.

The DPRK's athlete delegation arrived at the Yangyang International Airport in South Korea's eastern region at about 6:09 p.m. local time (0909 GMT).

North Korea's 32-member delegation arrives at Yangyang international airport in Yangyang County in Gangwon Province, South Korea, Feb. 1, 2018. [Photo: AP]

The DPRK delegation came together with South Korean skiers, who had trained for two days with DPRK athletes at the DPRK's Masikryong Ski Resort.

The plane carrying the South Korean and the DPRK athletes took off from the Kalma airport in the DPRK's east city of Wonsan.

The DPRK athlete delegation, composed of 10 athletes, three coaches and 18 supporting personnel, was led by Won Kil-u, the DPRK's vice minister of physical sports.

The DPRK athletes included three skiers, three cross country skiers, two short track speed skaters and two pair figure skaters.

Twelve DPRK athletes already arrived at South Korea last week for a joint women's ice hockey team, the first unified Olympic team between the two Koreas.

South Korea will host the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games in its eastern county of PyeongChang. The winter sports event will kick off on Feb. 9, continuing to run through March.

During the high-level inter-Korean dialogue in January, the DPRK agreed to send its athletes, cheerleaders, musicians and a demonstration team of Taekwondo, a traditional Korean martial art, to the South Korea-hosted winter sports event.