President Moon Jae-in has proposed that South and North Korea field a single team for the 2018 Winter Olympics set to open in Pyeongchang, South Korea. 

The president made the proposal Saturday in a speech at an opening ceremony for the 2017 World Taekwondo Championships in Muju, North Jeolla Province. 

Moon said that if North Korea participates in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, it will make a great contribution to realizing the Olympic spirit of promoting world peace and harmony.  

The international taekwondo tournament opened at the Taekwondowon Center in Muju County with record participation from over 180 nations. The championships will continue through next Friday with matches lined up for eight weight categories for both men and women.

The World Taekwondo Federation(WTF) hosts this event every other year, which boasts the longest history as a global taekwondo competition. The federation said 971 athletes and 796 officials registered to take part this year.

In the opening ceremony, a demonstration team from the North Korea-led International Taekwondo Federation(ITF) held a historic joint performance with a team from the South Korea-led World Taekwondo Federation.

A group of 32 North Korean delegates and athletes arrived in South Korea on Friday, including ITF president Ri Yong-son and Chang Ung, former ITF chief and the only North Korean member of the International Olympic Committee(IOC).

The ITF team is the first to visit South Korea in ten years and is also the first to attend an event hosted by the WTF.

IOC president Thomas Bach will also visit South Korea next Thursday to attend the championships' closing ceremony the following day. 

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