SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of -- Twelve North Korean female hockey players have crossed the border into South Korea to form the rivals' first-ever Olympic team during next month's Pyeongchang Winter Games.
Seoul's Unification Ministry says in a statement the North Korean athletes arrived in the South on Thursday morning along with a coach and two support staff.
The North Koreans are to travel on to a southern South Korean training centre where they'll be united with their South Korean teammates.
The rival Koreas recently agreed to field a single women's hockey team as part of Olympics-related rapprochement deals struck following months of nuclear tensions.
The deals include athletes of the two Koreas marching together under a single flag during the Feb. 9 opening ceremony.
