North Korea Set to Compete in Pyeongchang Paralympics

North Korea has announced that the country will send athletes to the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Paralympics, which begin next week.

The country has offered to send 20 delegates, including six athletes, to the games in South Korea. It will be the first time they have participated in a Winter Paralympics.

According to Yonhap, South Korea’s Unification Ministry has announced: “North Korea seems to think that it has already partly contributed to an improvement of inter-Korean ties by sending an art troupe and a cheering squad to the Pyeongchang Olympics.”

The International Paralympic Committee had previously invited two skiers from North Korea to compete, but the country has now proposed another four athletes.

North Korea sent a 500-member delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang this month, with relations between the two Koreas said to have thawed during that time.

Athletes from both Koreas marched out under a unified flag with their southern counterparts at the Games’ opening ceremony in a show of solidarity, whilst there was also a unified Korean women’s ice hockey team.

The Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympic Games will take place from March 8-18.