Seoul envoys visit N Korea ahead of Olympics

SEOUL: A South Korean delegation crossed into the North on Tuesday to inspect venues for joint Olympic-linked events, even as Pyongyang demanded Seoul apologise for “despicable” protestors who burned Kim Jong-Un’s image, as controversy mounts over the rapprochement.

The two Koreas agreed earlier this month that the North’s athletes would attend February’s Pyeongchang Winter Games in the South, and that they would form a joint women’s ice hockey team and march together at the opening ceremony.

The two nations also agreed Southern skiers would train with their counterparts from the North at its Masikryong ski resort, and for a joint cultural event at the scenic Mt Kumgang north of the border.

There have since been a flurry of preparatory missions, and the Seoul officials — the first to visit the North in nearly two years — are expected to spend three days in the country.Seoul and the Games organisers have sought to promote Pyeongchang as a “Peace Olympics” to open a door for dialogue with the nuclear-armed North, which has traded threats with the US over the past year.

In response to the protests and controversy, South Korea’s presidential office on Tuesday called on the public to welcome all countries participating in the Games.“The people have to all work together,” presidential spokesman Park Soo-Hyun told reporters. “Let us welcome the guests as dignified hosts.”