In rare talks on January 17, the two Koreas agreed to form a combined women’s ice hockey team to take part in the February Winter Olympics in the South, and march together under a unified peninsula flag at the opening ceremony.

The expansive sign of reconciliation came in the midst of acute tensions between the two countries. Over the past few months, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump, South Korea’s key ally, have had a war of words over the North’s string of nuclear and missile tests that have threatened to escalate into war. The Olympics agreement has come as a breather for President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, who has been pushing for talks.

A South Korean national flag belonging to a member of the South Korean national ice hockey team.   | Photo Credit: REUTERS