(ATTN: UPDATES with more info throughout)
SEOUL/DONGHAE, South Korea, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's art troupe arrived in South Korea by ferry Tuesday to perform in celebration of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics as Seoul temporarily lifted its ban on North Korean ships' travel.
The North Korean ship Mangyongbong-92 carrying the Samjiyon art troupe came to the South's Mukho port on the east coast at around 5 p.m.
North Korean vessels are not allowed to visit South Korea under Seoul's unilateral sanctions banning inter-Korean exchanges, which were imposed on May 24, 2010 to punish the North's sinking of a South Korean warship.
But the government has decided to make the art troupe's sea travel for the Winter Games an exception to the sanctions.
This photo, taken Feb. 6, 2018, shows the North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92 carrying the North's Samjiyon art troupe as it arrives at South Korea's Mukho port for its Olympic performances. (Yonhap)
The two Koreas have engaged in a flurry of sports diplomacy since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un extended a rare olive branch to Seoul in his New Year's message after a year of tensions sparked by the North's nuclear and missile provocations.
The 140-member art troupe, called the Samjiyon Orchestra, plans to perform in Gangneung, a sub-host city of the Feb. 9-25 Winter Games on Thursday and in Seoul on Sunday.
The art group is seen as consisting of a combination of members from six to seven major North Korean bands, including the all-female Moranbong Band, the Mansudae Art Troupe and the State Merited Chorus, according to a government source.
Hyon Song-wol, the head of the all-female Moranbong Band, is the leader of the Samjiyon art troupe. The Moranbong Band, created by an order of Kim Jong-un in July 2012, features Western-style music and outfits.
Hyon, an alternate member of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), visited the South last month to check performance venues in the two cities.
The Mangyongbong-92 is a 9,700 ton cargo-passenger ferry named after a hill in Pyongyang, near the birthplace of late founder Kim Il-sung.
It transported the North's cheering squad to the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, the South's southern port city. It was also used to accommodate the cheerleaders.
The ferry will be used as the art troupe's accommodations when it holds the concert in Gangneung.
At the port, a group of South Koreans gathered to welcome the group to the South.
But anti-North Korean activists also held a rally, waving South Korea's flag and the Stars and Stripes in an expression of support for the Seoul-Washington's alliance.
Some were seen burning North Korea's flag and a photo of Kim Jong-un, as well as the powder-blue Korean Unification Flag, which will be used during the two Koreas' joint march at the opening ceremony.
Some conservatives claimed that by taking part in the Olympics, the North intends to weaken international sanctions and drive a wedge into the decades-long alliance between Seoul and Washington.
This photo carried by North Korea's state-run news agency on Feb. 6, 2018, shows a North Korean art troupe leaving Pyongyang for a trip to South Korea to hold performances to mark the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
North Korean media said Tuesday that the art troupe left Pyongyang a day earlier for the eastern port city of Wonsan for the trip to the South.
The troupe was greeted by senior party officials, including Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of Kim Jong-un, and Pak Kwang-ho, the director of the WPK's propaganda and agitation department.
"The government sees Kim Yo-jong as a vice director at the WPK's propaganda and agitation department," said an official at Seoul's unification ministry, referring to the No. 3 post at the department.
A local media report previously showed that Kim may have been promoted to first vice director of the department, the No. 2 post.
South Korea's unification ministry said that the government is likely to provide food, fuel and electricity to the North after the ship anchors at the port.
"The South will offer the necessary conveniences (to the Mangyongbong-92) based on the precedent of the 2002 Busan Asian Games," said the government official.
It is said that Seoul would make sure U.S. food ingredients were not included in meals, in a bid to prevent a possible violation of U.S. sanctions that ban the delivery of American goods and services to North Korea.
Seoul's temporary easing of sanctions for the art troupe has drawn criticism from the main opposition party, which says the move could weaken the South's sanctions on Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.
The government official said that the Mangyongbong-92 is not a ship blacklisted by the U.S., but Seoul has consulted with Washington to confirm that the ferry is not subject to Washington's sanctions.
North Korea told the South at their talks last month that the concerts will likely consist of folk songs and masterpieces that fit the theme of unification and are well known to both South and North Koreans.
Other details have not been made public, but the North informed the South last week that many South Korean songs will be included in the programs.
It will be North Koreans' first performance in the South since 2002, when Pyongyang sent a cohort of 30 singers and dancers from several music and performance groups to Seoul for a joint event.
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