And while North Korea continues to be hit by punishing sanctions,... the two Koreas are busy working out the details of their Olympic truce.
As scheduled,... a North Korean inspection team, including some of the country's Olympians, is on its way south this morning to look around facilities in PyeongChang, Gangneung and Seoul.
Our Ji Myung-kil has more.
A North Korean delegation of eight members led by Yun Yong-bok,... the deputy director general of Pyongyang's sports ministry is set to arrive in South Korea on Thursday morning.
This will be the second time for Yun to step on South Korean soil, after making a similar visit in 2014 ahead of the Incheon Asian Games that year.
The delegation is joined by a 15-member ice hockey team, and they are reportedly using the Gyeongui Line train route on the western part of the peninsula to cross the border and enter South Korea.
This will be the second inspection team from North Korea to arrive in the South after Hyon Song-wol, the leader of the Samjiyon Orchestra, led the first team last weekend for a two-day visit.
Yun's inspection team plans to look around accommodations, the venues for figure skating and ice hockey, and the athletes village,... all located in the city of Gangneung,... which is hosting the ice events of next month's PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
On Friday... the team will move to Pyeongchang to check out the press center, the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium, the slopes of the Alpensia resort for cross-country skiing and the Yongpyong ski resort.
On Saturday... the team plans to inspect accommodation facilities in Seoul for a 30-member taekwondo demonstration team, as well as the concert hall in one of Seoul's broadcasting stations. They are expected to head back to North Korea in the afternoon.
The North's second inspection team comes as the two Koreas released a statement on January 9th agreeing that the North would send athletes, a cheering squad, art troupe, a taekwondo demonstration team and journalists to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Ji Myung-kil, Arirang News.
