North Korean athletes and cheerleaders will return home after the closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, a government official said Tuesday.
The North sent 22 athletes and 229 cheerleaders to the Feb. 9-25 PyeongChang Winter Olympics after its leader has extended a rare olive branch following years of frozen communication and heightened tensions.
"They are expected to go back home after the games' closing ceremony. The two Koreas are discussing details," an official at Seoul's unification ministry said.
This photo, taken Feb. 19, 2018, shows North Korean female cheerleaders at their accommodation in Inje, 165 kilometers east of Seoul. (Yonhap)
Athletes from the two Koreas marched together under a single flag depicting the Korean Peninsula at the opening ceremony. They also fielded a single women's ice hockey team.
The official added that nothing has been discussed or planned over whether North Korea will send a high-profile delegation to the closing ceremony.
North Korea sent a government delegation led by its ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam, from Feb. 9-11 to attend the opening ceremony.
Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was among the delegation as her brother's special envoy and delivered the ruler's letter to President Moon Jae-in containing an invitation to Pyongyang at an early date.(Yonhap)
