SEOUL, 27 February (BelTA - Yonhap) - North Korea will send athletes next week to take part in the PyeongChang Paralympics, which will be held in South Korea in March, Seoul's unification ministry said Tuesday.
The North offered to send a 20-member delegation, including six athletes, to the South next Wednesday via a land route, according to a joint statement reached after working-level talks on the North's participation in the March 9-18 games.
It also said that it will dispatch a four-member delegation of officials from its Paralympic Committee.
It would mark North Korea's first participation in the winter Paralympics.
The move comes after the North participated in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics that ended Sunday amid a mood for rapprochement between the two Koreas. North Korea sent a nearly 500-member delegation to the Feb. 9-25 Olympics.
At last month's inter-Korean talks, the North said it would send a 150-member delegation made up of athletes, musicians and cheerleaders to the Paralympics.
But Tuesday's statement did not include the dispatch of an art troupe and cheerleaders.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said on Feb. 1 that it has invited North Korea to the Paralympic Games and offered two bipartite slots to athletes to compete in Para Nordic skiing events.
The IPC allowed an eight-member athletic delegation, including two skiers, but the North on Tuesday expressed hope to send additional 12 people, including four athletes.
"Four athletes proposed by the North will not compete in the Paralympics," the ministry added.
The inter-Korean agreement on athletes will be reviewed by the IPC for approval.
As for North Korea not dispatching musicians and cheerleaders, the ministry said, "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."
Earlier in the day, the two Koreas discussed details, such as the size of the athletic delegation, a travel route and Seoul's provision of logistical support.
