North Korean Taekwondo athletes are participating in their first-ever event hosted by the South Korea-based World Taekwondo Federation.
 
During the opening ceremony on Tuesday for the World Taekwondo Federation World Championships in Chelyabinsk, Russia, North Korean athletes showed off techniques in a self-defense exhibition event.
 
North Korea manages the International Taekwondo Federation, a rival governing body, and has never competed in a World Taekwondo Federation-sanctioned event. 
 
The reversal is a follow-up measure to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between heads of the two federations during last year’s Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.

The MOU states that the two organizations will allow athletes to cross-participate in events hosted by both bodies on the condition that they follow their respective rules. 
  
This year’s World Taekwondo Federation World Championships is already being touted as a great leap forward for the unity of the two Koreas in the Korean martial arts.