North Korea will send 22 athletes to the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea and the two Koreas will field a unified ice hockey team in the Olympics for the first time.

International Olympic Committee(IOC) President Thomas Bach announced on Saturday details of the North's Olympic participation after a four-party meeting of officials from South and North Korean in Lausanne, Switzerland. 

Bach said in a news conference that the IOC approved a 46-member North Korean delegation for the Olympics, which will comprise 22 athletes and 24 officials. North Korea will be represented in three sporting events. 

He also said that the two Koreas will field a single ice hockey team, with 12 North Korean players joining South Korea's 23-member team.

The unified women's ice hockey team will comprise 35 players, but only 22 of them can actually compete in the games as rosters are set at 22.
  
The unified team will be headed by South Korean woman’s national ice hockey team coach Sarah Murray and participate in the Olympics as "Korea."

The IOC also decided to allow the North Korean figure staking pairs team of  Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik to compete in the Olympics. 

They actually qualified for PyeongChang last fall but missed the deadline to confirm their participation.

In short track speed skating, Jong Kwang-bom in the men's 1,500 meters and Choe Un-song in the men's 500 meters will represent North Korea.

Han Chun-gyong, Pak Il-chol and Ri Yong-gum will compete for the North in cross-country skiing, and Choe Myong-gwang, Kang Song-il and Kim Ryon-hyang will compete in alpine skiing.

The two Koreas will march together at the opening and closing ceremonies under a "unification flag" depicting the Korean Peninsula. 

Traditional Korean folk song "Arirang" has been decided as their anthem and  the unified team will use the acronym COR.