Koreas to hold talks on Pyongyang's Paralympics participation

South and North Korea on Friday agreed to hold working-level talks next week to discuss Pyongyang's participation in the 2018 Winter Paralympics, which will be held in next month, Seoul's Unification Ministry has confirmed.

The two sides will meet on February 27 at the northern side of the inter-Korean border to discuss details of the North's participation in the March 9-18 games, reports Yonhap News Agency.

At last month's inter-Korean talks, the North agreed to send a 150-member delegation to the Paralympics.

Seoul will send a three-member delegation led by Lee Joo-tae, a Director-General in charge of inter-Korean exchanges at the ministry, to the upcoming talks, it added.

The two Koreas have engaged in a flurry of sports diplomacy since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed willingness to send a delegation to the February 9-25 PyeongChang Winter Olympics in his New Year's message.

The North has dispatched nearly 500 people, including athletes, musicians and cheerleaders to the Olympics.

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told lawmakers on Thursday that former North Korean table tennis player Ri Pun-hui, a ranking official at the North's governing body for the Paralympics, could come to the South.

South Korean table tennis player Hyun Jung-hwa played doubles matches with Ri against China when the two Koreas fielded joint teams at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships.

--IANS

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