Story highlights Flame lit to mark start of 2018 Winter Paralympics

North Korea sends first ever team

Koreas march separately at opening ceremony

(CNN) The Winter Paralympics began amid a dazzling spectrum of color and music at Friday's opening ceremony as Pyeongchang welcomed its second international sporting extravaganza of 2018.

And while South and North Korea didn't march together, the North does have its first ever team at the Paralympics.

The pentagonal Olympic Stadium in Pyeongchang played host once again, celebrating the 567 athletes from 48 nations preparing to compete over the next nine days in South Korea.

Despite the sub-zero temperatures, the athletes were afforded a warm welcome from the 35,000-seater arena with a spectacular performance that drew on South Korean culture via an eclectic mix of traditional buk drumming, 'K-pop' and the climactic lighting of the Paralympic cauldron.

The final ignition of the cauldron was carried out by South Korean wheelchair curling skip Seo Soon-seok, having taken the torch from one of the Olympics' famous 'Garlic Girls' -- Kim Eun-jung, the skip for last month's silver-medal-winning South Korean women's curling team.