Korean athletes march as one

Korean athletes march as a symbol of reconciliation

North and South Korean athletes have taken a symbolic step towards ending more than five decades of hostility, marching together for the first time at the opening of the Olympic Games.

Emerging into the Sydney Olympic stadium with athletes from 199 countries, the united Korean team, wearing identical uniforms, received a standing ovation from the 110,000-strong crowd.

Koreans and non-Koreans alike gave the team a standing ovation

Leading the applause was International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch, who helped bring the two teams together.

At the head of the team, North Korean judo coach Pak Jung-chu and South Korean basketball player Chung Eun-sun together held aloft the flag chosen to symbolise a united Korea - a blue silhouette of the Korean Peninsula on a white background.

Although they will compete in the Games under their separate flags and use their own national anthems, the North and South Korean teams agreed to march together at the opening ceremony as a symbol of reconciliation.

Olympic truce

Officials say the idea to march together epitomises the hopes of the Olympic Truce - an appeal traditionally made at the start of each Games for political hostilities to be put on hold for the duration of the Olympiad.

Carrying the flag and the hopes of a divided nation

"When things like that happen, they are events which move and progress forward, to which there is no turning back," Australia's Olympics Minister Michael Knight said.

The march follows dramatic changes in the state of relations between the two Koreas, including June's landmark Pyongyang summit between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and his reclusive North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-il.

Although the Korean War ended nearly half a century ago, the two countries have never signed a peace treaty and remain officially at war.