THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: North Korea free to take part in 2018 Games

North Korea can participate in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics if it wishes to do so, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.

North Korean athletes need approval from Seoul to enter the South as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically in a state of war.

The comments comes after PyeongChang governor Choi Moon-soon said on Sunday that a North Korean sports official had told him the North want to join the Games.

A North Korea sports delegation is currently in South Korea to take part in an international ice hockey competition in Gangneung, which will host some events during the 2018 Games. Meanwhile, Seoul has approved a trip to North Korea by the South’s women’s soccer team to take part qualifiers for the 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

Tensions between the two Koreas are escalating following the North's plot to do another nuclear test late last month, to coincide with the United Nation's Nuclear Ban Treaty talks.

Source: REUTERS