The UN Security Council(UNSC) on Thursday cleared a blacklisted North Korean official to visit South Korea for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

The UNSC Sanctions Committee on North Korea granted the temporary exemption for Choe Hwi, the chairman of the North's National Sports Guidance Committee. 

Choe was slapped with the travel ban last June under UN Security Council Resolution 2356 which sanctioned Pyongyang for its ballistic missile tests. 

Ambassador Karel van Oosterom of the Netherlands, who chairs the sanctions committee reportedly sent out letters to UNSC members, asking them to grant the exemption. The move was approved with no objections raised by any of the 15 council members. 

The temporary exemption, which is the first under Resolution 2356, came a day after the South Korean mission to the UN on Wednesday submitted a formal request to the committee, asking for a temporary suspension or exemption for Choe's trip to the South.  

North Korea had informed Seoul on Wednesday that it would send a high-level delegation to the games, including North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister Kim Yo-jong, Choe Hwi and Ri Son-gwon, the head of the North's state agency in charge of inter-Korean affairs.