South Korea is preparing to host hundreds of North Koreans during the Olympics, including officials, athletes, artists, journalists and a 230-member cheering group.
Liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in sees the Games as an opportunity to resume meaningful contact with the North following an extended period of animosity over its nuclear weapons and missiles programme.
The eight-member inspection team returned to North Korea after inspecting a Seoul performance facility that could host a show by a North Korean taekwondo demonstration team during the Olympics, which start on February 9.
Other conciliatory gestures the Koreas have agreed to hold during the Olympics include a joint march during the opening ceremony and fielding a unified team in women's ice hockey.
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The rival Koreas are also planning to hold pre-Olympic cultural and sports events in North Korea, which may potentially involve South Korean pop singers and athletes flown to an airport the North has often used to test launch ballistic missiles.
The South Korean inspectors returned from the three-day trip on Thursday with positive reviews about the North Korean venues and the Kalma International Airport.
The South Korean delegates will likely fly by plane from the South's Yangyang Airport to the Kalma airport to participate in the events, which could begin as early as next week, according to an official from Seoul's Unification Ministry, who didn't want to be named, citing office rules.
Lee is the widow of former South Korean President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kim Dae-jung, who is remembered for his rapprochement policies with the North that led to a historic summit with late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2000.
The South has proposed that the programme at Diamond Mountain include K-pop music, the ministry official said.
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