World Taekwondo hopes its demonstration team's performance in Pyongyang will bring South and North Korea closer. / Courtesy of World Taekwondo

By Jung Min-ho

In an effort to maintain a peaceful atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea will send a team of taekwondo athletes to North Korea next month.

A high-ranking official at World Taekwondo (WT), which is helping the government organize the event, told The Korea Times Friday that the team would go to Pyongyang as early as the middle of April ahead of a South-North summit later that month.

"A departure date and how long the team will stay there have not been determined yet," the official said. "We will make an official announcement soon."

The preparation came after North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un asked for such an event when he met South Korea's special envoys in Pyongyang last week.

A South Korean art troupe will also visit North Korea's capital, but it is unclear whether the troupe will go at the same time as the taekwondo team.

Because of WT President Choue Chung-won's tight schedule, it is possible ― and more likely ― that the art troupe will visit and perform first.

Kang Sue-jin, a world-renowned former ballerina and director of the Korean National Ballet, might take charge of the art team after Kim Yong-nam, North Korea's nominal head of state, suggested at a luncheon organized by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon last month that Kang should do so.

Meanwhile, WT said it would continue to help bring South and North Korea closer through many taekwondo events overseas.