(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with more info)
SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean delegation on Tuesday began their three-day field survey of North Korean venues where the two Koreas will hold joint cultural and sports events ahead of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, a high-ranking government official said.
The team of 12 South Korean officials crossed the heavily-fortified inter-Korean border into the North earlier in the day as part of the two Koreas' exchanges of advance teams to prepare for their joint celebrations of the Olympics to be held in the South Korean town of PyeongChang and other two cities in February.
After leaving for North Korea in late morning, the South Korean inspection team conducted their initial survey of facilities in the Mount Kumgang area and will move to the Masikryong Ski Resort in the afternoon, the official said on condition of anonymity.
In growing signs of detente on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea's provocative ballistic missile launches and nuclear test last year, the two Koreas held a series of talks to agree on the North's participation in the upcoming Olympics. They also agreed to hold joint a cultural event in the North Korean mountain resort and joint training at the ski resort, one of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's signature projects.
The South Korean team will stay at a hotel in the ski resort during the visit before returning home on Thursday, according to the official.
Their visit also includes a field inspection of Kalma Airport, a military airfield that could be used to fly in South Korean non-Olympic skiers to the North Korean ski resort.
"A telephone at the Masikryong hotel was linked up with a situation room in South Korea," the official said, adding that the government will be keeping in touch with the delegation through the North Korean trip.
The survey of the Masikryong Ski Resort will see if the slope is apt for training Alpine and cross-country skiers, two sports events where the North will compete in the upcoming Olympics, although neither South nor North Korean Olympic athletes will join the combined training, according to the official.
"We plan to make a final decision (on specific details) after reviewing the inspection results," he added.
The Moon Jae-in government has been pushing to ease tension and repair ties with the North Korean Kim regime through the country's participation in the Olympics and the two Koreas' joint Olympic events.
A total of 22 North Korean athletes will compete in five events, including figure skating. Olympians from both the South and the North will also march together under one flag in the opening ceremony.
On Monday, a North Korean advance team returned home after conducting a two-day field survey of potential performance venues for a North Korean art troupe's shows in South Korea during the Olympics. The North Korean Samjiyon band will stage two performances each in Seoul and Gangneung, a sub-host city of the games.
In the morning, the South Korean team, led by Lee Joo-tae, director-general for inter-Korean exchange and cooperation in the Ministry of Unification, entered the North through the East Sea Line, one of the two inter-Korean land routes. The East Sea Line has not been used since October 2015.
It is the first North Korea visit by South Korean government officials since February 2016, when the South shut down the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a factory park in North Korean border city of the same name that the two Koreas jointly operated.
An inter-Korean tour program to the mountain, which started in 1998, was suspended in 2008 after a South Korean tourist was shot to death by a North Korean soldier in the area.
Another North Korean inspection team will come to the South to look around Olympic stadiums and accommodation facilities Thursday, the same day the South Korean delegation returns home.
A bus carrying a South Korean inspection team crosses the inter-Korean border pass in Goseong, Gangwon Province, into North Korea on Jan. 23, 2018. (Yonhap)
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