North Korea to Send Athletes to Paralympic Games - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - North Korea will send a delegation of athletes to the upcoming Paralympic Games in South Korea, South Korean Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.
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The agency reported, citing a joint statement adopted at the talks, that the delegation would be sent via the land route on March 7. The number of delegation members has not been specified, the media outlet noted.

The Paralympics will be held on March 9-18.

Earlier in the day, Seoul and Pyongyang held a working-level meeting on North Korea's participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Paralympic in the border village of Panmunjom.

Olympic Fire Extinguished as 2018 Winter Games Conclude in South Korea
In January, Seoul and Pyongyang resumed bilateral talks after North Korean leader Kin Jong-un ordered to restore a hotline prior to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

The sides agreed on the participation of the North in the Olympics, while the opening and the closing ceremonies were attended by Pyongyang's high-level delegations.

The Olympics opening ceremony that took place on February 9 was attended by North Korean ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam as well as Kim Jong Un's younger sister Kim Yo Jong.

The delegation for the closing ceremony comprised eight people and was led by Kim Yong Chol, a senior North Korean party official.

READ MORE: N Korea May Halt Nuclear Tests to Sustain Olympics 'Charm Offensive' — Analysts

The thaw on the Korean Peninsula followed a year of escalating tensions caused by the Pyongyang's missile and nuclear tests carried out in violation of the UN Security Council's resolutions.

Following the tests, the UN Security Council introduced several rounds of sanctions, with the latest unanimously adopted last December. The sanctions limited North Korea's oil dealings to 4 billion barrels per year and made oil exporters working with the country report on their deliveries to the UN Security Council.

Pyongyang rejects the new sanctions, saying that the country's nuclear weapons are a self-defense deterrence against nuclear threats and blackmail by the US.

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