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The Latest: SKorea's Moon backs joint hockey team with North| News & Observer

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South Korea’s president says fielding a joint ice hockey team with North Korea during next month’s Winter Olympics would be a historic event that moves the hearts of people around the world.
The Latest on talks between North and South Korea (all times local):
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5 p.m.
South Korea’s president says fielding a joint ice hockey team with North Korea during next month’s Winter Olympics would be a historic event that moves the hearts of people around the world.
Moon Jae-in’s office says the president made the remarks during a meeting with South Korean athletes on Wednesday.
South Korea wants the International Olympic Committee to allow several North Korean players to join the South Korean women’s hockey team, in what would be the rivals’ first unified Olympic team.
Moon said a joint team could boost inter-Korean ties.
He said South and North Korean athletes playing together during the Olympics would be “a historic event” that moves people in South Korea and around the world.
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3:40 p.m.
South Korea says North Korea plans to send a 230-member cheering squad to South Korea during next month’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry says in a statement the North also proposed its Olympic delegation travel to South Korea across the land border during talks Wednesday.
It says the two Koreas also discussed fielding a joint women’s hockey team and conducting a joint march during the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Games.
It says the talks will continue later Wednesday.
The North has said its delegation would also include officials, athletes, journalists, an art troupe and a taekwondo demonstration team.
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2 p.m.
South Korea says North Korea will send a delegation to the Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea in March.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry says in a statement that the North informed it of such a plan during talks Wednesday at the border. The talks, the third round in less than 10 days, were arranged to discuss cooperation in next month’s Pyeongchang Olympics.
The Unification Ministry says the two Korea will hold further talks on a detailed makeup of the North Korean Paralympics delegation.
North Korea agreed last week to send a delegation to the Pyeongchang Olympics in a conciliatory gesture after a year of heightened animosities over its nuclear and missile programs.
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Noon
A government spokesman has said that South Korea will ensure that any proposal for a joint women’s hockey team with North Korea at the Winter Olympics will not have a negative impact on South Korean players.
Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said Wednesday that the government is aware of public concerns that adding North Korean players could displace South Koreans who have made the team.
His comments came as the two Koreas were holding talks on North Korean participation in the Winter Games in South Korea next month.
South Korea wants the IOC to allow the hockey team’s roster to be expanded to make room for North Korean players. If a joint squad is realized, it would be the Koreas’ first unified team in an Olympics.
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10:55 a.m.
The two Koreas are meeting for the third time in 10 days to discuss North Korean participation in next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea.
Officials from both sides met Wednesday in the village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides their countries.
North Korea agreed last week to send a delegation to the Olympics. The move has provided a tentative thaw in the strained ties between the Koreas.
Proposals expected to be discussed Wednesday include a joint women’s hockey team and marching together during the opening ceremony. The talks precede a meeting among the two countries and the IOC in Switzerland on Saturday.
The Koreas agreed earlier this week that 80 North Korean orchestra members and 60 singers and dancers would perform in the South during the games.

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