Sports
11:42, 19-Jan-2018
Olympic flame arrives in Paju, near DPRK-ROK border
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The Olympic Flame arrived at Paju near the border between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) earlier on Friday on day 80 of the torch relay.
Paju is the closest ROK city to the truce border village of Panmunjom, where the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953.
The torch relay arrived in Paju shortly after the DPRK and ROK agreed to march together under a unified flag and field a joint women's hockey team for the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games.
The Paju section of the relay was carried out using bicycles, the two wheels of a bike chosen to symbolize the two Koreas which can only move forward when both wheels roll together.
The PyeongChang Winter Olympic torch relay in Paju is a relay using bicycles. /Photo via pyeongchang2018.com
The PyeongChang Winter Olympic torch relay in Paju is a relay using bicycles. /Photo via pyeongchang2018.com
The Paju section of the relay is the northernmost of the flame's journey, which sees it travel more than 220 kilometers through seven regions over the course of seven days before ending in Goseong.
Yonhap news agency reported that around 7,500 torchbearers will participate in the event.
The torch will continue its journey ahead of the opening ceremony on February 9 for the first ROK-hosted Winter Olympic Games, which run until February 25.