Athletes and cheerleaders of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) returned home Monday as the 23rd Winter Olympic Games ended the previous day, according to Seoul's unification ministry.[Special coverage]
The DPRK sports delegation, including 45 athletes and 229 cheerleaders, crossed the heavily guarded inter-Korean border via land route to their home country at about 12:30 p.m. local time (0330 GMT).
The Winter Olympics, which kicked off on Feb. 9 in South Korea's east county of PyeongChang, ended Sunday night with a closing ceremony.
The two Koreas fielded a joint women's ice hockey team, the first inter-Korean Olympic team, and marched together during the opening ceremony.
Both the opening and closing ceremonies were attended by high-ranking DPRK delegations. Kim Yong Chol, a vice chairman of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, came here Sunday leading a high-level DPRK delegation for the closing ceremony.
Kim and the DPRK delegation were scheduled to stay in South Korea till Tuesday.
