A North Korean taekwondo demonstration team arrived in South Korea yesterday for its first performances in the rival country in 10 years.

The team’s arrival came as South Korea’s new liberal president Moon Jae In trys to reach out to North Korea despite the North’s push to bolster its nuclear and missile programmes. The North’s sole International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, Chang Ung, is travelling with the taekwondo team and will meet South Korean officials over co-operation on next year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Upon their arrival at Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport, South Korean children wearing taekwondo uniforms draped bouquets of flowers around the neck of Chang and other North Koreans amid a barrage of camera flashes. Chang told a televised news conference that Pyeongchang issues will be discussed when IOC President Thomas Bach visits South Korea next week.

Taekwondo is a Korean traditional martial art but has been the subject of a bitter North-South rivalry.

There are two international federations: the South Korea-based World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) — recognised by the IIOC — and the North-backed International Taekwondo Federation (ITF). North Korea has never sent its taekwondo athletes to an Olympics.

A 15-member ITF demonstration team, all North Koreans, plans to conduct joint performances with WTF athletes, mostly South Koreans, at the WTF-organised world championships, which is set to open today in the southern South Korean town of Muju.

“We came here to make a contribution to a unified development of taekwondo, the source of our national pride,” ITF president Ri Yong Sun said.