Earlier this month, Choi Moon-soon, governor of Gangwon Province, where PyeongChang is located, proposed having North Korean skaters alongside South Koreans in figure skating's team event. The North Korean pairs duo of Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik, who qualified for the Olympics but missed a deadline to confirm their participation in PyeongChang, were the logical choice. But their participation in the team event would have to come at the expense of a South Korean pairs team, Kim Kyu-eun and Kam Kang-chan.

There were reports of a joint Korean training in bobsleigh, but it was also shot down.

Instead, South Korea is pursuing a unified Korean team in women's hockey. It made the proposal during high-level inter-Korean talks last Tuesday, but North Korea didn't immediately respond to it. The proposal was only revealed last Friday.

The two Koreas are expected to meet sometime this week on further working-level talks on North Korea's participation in PyeongChang 2018, the first Winter Olympics to take place in South Korea.

Separately, the International Olympic Committee has scheduled a four-party meeting for Saturday at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, with representatives from PyeongChang's Olympic organizing committee and the two Koreas' respective national Olympic committees. IOC President Thomas Bach will chair the meeting, which will discuss the North's participation and the joint team in women's hockey.

South Korea is seeking cooperation from both the IOC and the International Ice Hockey Federation to expand its roster from 23 to more than 30, so that South Korean players won't lose their spots.

Even if South Korea gets its wish and adds a few North Korean players to the team without cutting any South Koreans, the situation may still force some South Korean players to sit out some games as healthy scratches, since only 22 players can be on the bench at once.

It also remains to be seen whether South Korea's opponents in the group stage, Sweden, Switzerland and Japan, would agree to having one country carry extra players. (Yonhap)