SEOUL - A women ice hockey team of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) crossed the inter-Korean land border Thursday to the Republic of Korea (ROK) for a joint training with their ROK counterparts as the two sides agreed to field a unified team during the upcoming Winter Olympics.

The DPRK team, composed of 12 athletes, two supporting members and a coach, crossed the military demarcation line (MDL), which has divided the two sides since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in armistice, at about 9:20 am local time (0020 GMT), according to Seoul's unification ministry.

The DPRK women's ice hockey team travelled by bus to the ROK training center for athletes at Jincheon county in North Chungcheong province to start a joint training.