A joint Korean handball team for next year's men's world handball championship will begin training in Germany on Saturday.

Seoul's Korea Handball Federation said on Monday the two Koreas will send a joint handball team to the 2019 World Men's Handball Championship set to open on January tenth in Germany and Denmark.

The federation said South Korean athletes will depart for Germany on Friday and North Koreans will join them the next day to begin joint training.

The team comprising 16 South Koreans and four North Korean athletes will open the championship, competing against host Germany on January tenth. The unified team will participate in the event as "Korea" as similar joint teams did in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.