North and South Korea have decided to march together for the 2018 Winter Olympic games opening ceremony under a unified flag. This is big news for both countries and an exciting time for the athletes and supporters.

“The Korean Unification Flag features a blue silhouette of the peninsula and outlying islands,” CNN stated.  “The two countries have marched under the flag before, in rare shows of unity, first at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships, and at a number of sporting events since. It was most recently used at the 2006 winter games.”

Both the skiers and performers from both countries have already come together to train. The skiers are staying at a resort in North Korea, and the performers are training at Mount Kumgang in North Korea as well.

Xander Rogers, a senior from California, weighed in on the recent news. “The Olympics are already so special for the athletes competing and the countries in general, so North and South Korea coming together to walk as one adds to this special time even more.”

Their connection doesn’t end with just marching under one flag though. They actually “formed a joint North and South Korean women’s ice hockey team for the Games in Pyeongchang, which begin early next month,” South Korea’s unification ministry said.

There has been the smallest amount of backfire on this topic by some of the South Korean women hockey players. With the combined hockey team, some of the South Korean hokey players feel cheated out of a spot. This has been a goal for some of them for years, and now because of a joint team, this opportunity may be lost.

Max Livingston, a senior who has spent some time overseas playing lacrosse for the Israeli nation team shared his opinion.

“That’s great that North Korea is starting to do stuff like this again, I think for both countries, it is very important.” Max said, “I just feel bad for the women’s hockey team, who are losing their spots to accommodate the North Korea players. That’s not fair.”

This news of a joint flag has been in the works for over a month now, and might be a turning point of years of broken communications.

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said, “The talks were a “significant step” but acknowledged the serious challenges ahead: Despite these overtures to improve relations with the South, North Korea has yet to show any intention to fulfill its international obligations regarding denuclearization.”

Throughout the past month of communication between the two countries, North Korea has made it clear that their nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles are here to stay.

The winter games will be a turning point for both countries in the upcoming months, it may be just the start for North Korea’s communication with other countries.