South and North Korea will unite their judo teams for the upcoming East Asian Championships, the International Judo Federation said late Wednesday evening.
According to the IJF website, the two teams will compete under a single flag at the June 9-10 championships in Ulaanbaatar, "for the first time in a summer sport" after IFJ president Marius Vizer held talks with South and North Korean sporting officials.
"The unified Korean team will compete alongside China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan and Mongolia and will use Arirang, a Korean folk song, as their anthem. Korea's unified flag will adorn the judogi of their athletes," the IJF said.
The meeting in the Mongolian capital was to discuss the possibility of a unified team being formed for the Sept. 20-27 world championships in Baku.
The two Koreas competed together in women's ice hockey at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February and in the women's team event at the World Table Tennis Championships in May.