South Korea has agreed to North Korea’s proposal of holding working-level talks Wednesday at the truce village of Panmunjeom to further discuss its participation in the PyeongChang Olympics, the South’s Unification Ministry said Monday.



Seoul’s sports minister also said if the two sides agree on a joint entrance at the opening ceremony, the athletes would march under the “Korean Unification” flag -- a white flag with a blue shape of the Korean Peninsula in the center.



The North’s move, which came earlier in the day, came in response to South Korea’s offer Friday to arrange formal talks. Seoul said it would send a three-member delegation led by Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung. “South Korea has agreed to North Korea’s proposal to hold working-level talks at 10 a.m. at the Peace House (in Panmunjeom) on Jan. 17, through the South-North communication channel at 4 p.m.,” the ministry said in a statement.



The North will send a three-member delegation headed by Jon Jong-su, vice chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, added the ministry. The CPRC handles inter-Korean affairs within the North Korean government.



Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told reporters on Monday morning that there was “high possibility” of further working-level talks this week, before a separate meeting in Lausanne. Both the South and North will attend a meeting Saturday with IOC officials in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the IOC’s headquarters are located.



The two Koreas’ ongoing exchanges on the North’s participation in the Winter Games follows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s New Year’s address during which he expressed willingness to dispatch a delegation to the Olympics in February.



Triggered by the young dictator’s words, high-level talks were held on Jan. 9, and the North agreed to send athletes, high-ranking officials, cheerleaders, an art troupe, taekwondo demonstration teams and journalists to the Olympics.



On Wednesday, the two sides are expected to map out a travel route for the North Koreans coming to PyeongChang in Gangwon Province.



They are most likely to cross the border by land, as traveling by air or ship could violate international sanctions imposed on the North. South Korea’s unilateral sanction bans any vessel that has sailed to North Korea within the past 12 months from entering its waters, and the US has blacklisted Air Koryo, the North’s state airline.



The possibility of inviting high-ranking delegates, who are blacklisted, is expected to be raised as well.



The issue of a “joint march” is forecast to gain more attention, with Seoul’s Sports Minister Do Jong-hwan hinting at the possibility of marching under the Korean Unification Flag.



“The discussion is still ongoing, but the Korean Unification flag will be raised at the opening when a joint entrance is agreed upon,” Do said during a meeting with lawmakers at the National Assembly,



South Korea has also proposed a joint march, in which athletes of the two Koreas enter together at the opening ceremony, and assembling a joint women’s hockey team to compete at the games.



The North has displayed signs that it is positively considering both options. North Korea designed its own flag after the 1950-1953 Korean War, while the South continues to use the Taegukgi, which was adopted before the war to represent Korea.







Korea flag-bearers carry a unification flag, leading their teams into the stadium during the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Turin, Italy. (AP-Yonhap)