A South Korean advance team to North Korea is expected to inspect venues for a Seoul art troupe's April concerts in Pyongyang on Friday and return home as scheduled over the weekend, a government official said.

The team of government officials and experts arrived in Pyongyang via Beijing on Thursday for a three-day stay to check two venues for an art group's performances slated for March 31 to April 3.

"The advance team will inspect the venues and others today and will leave Pyongyang on Saturday morning and return home via Beijing," Lee Eugene, vice spokesperson at Seoul's unification ministry, told a press briefing.
 

The team used a plane belonging to North Korea's Air Koryo, North Korea's sole airline, which is on the blacklist of US sanctions.

The US sanctions bar the provision of services to North Korea's Air Koryo but fall short of banning the boarding of its flights.

The government said that North Korea will cover the costs of the South Korean team's stay.

"South Korea has covered the cost of using Air Koryo planes. The government has held close consultations with the US over the issue and taken measures to prevent it from being problematic," Lee said. (Yonhap)