South and North Korea will hold friendly basketball matches on Wednesday and Thursday in the North’s capital Pyongyang. 

On Wednesday, basketball players of the two Koreas will form joint teams for two games, beginning with a women's match at 3:40 p.m. at the Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium in Pyongyang followed by a men's match. The athletes from the two sides will be mixed into teams named “peace” and “prosperity.” 

On Thursday, two matches will take place between North and South Korea. However, the teams will not be labeled North and South but “red” and “blue”. No national flags or anthems will be used for the event.  

It marks the first time that friendly basketball matches between the two Koreas will be played since 2003. They were arranged during working-level inter-Korean talks on sports exchanges in June. 

The idea for the basketball games was floated when President Moon Jae-in held summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on April 27th. 

It remains to be seen whether Kim, who is known to be a great basketball fan, will attend the games.

[Photo : KBS]