The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said North Korea was going to participate in the Winter Games for the first time. The North Koreans will competing under a Korean unification flag like their delegation for the 2018 Winter Olympics did. This is the first time that North Korea went to the Winter Paralympics. The country had gone to the 2012 Summer Paralympics and the 2016 Summer Paralympics. On 1 January 2018, Kim Jong-un said he wanted to have North Koreans competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. North Koreans had a meeting with the IPC in Lusanne, Switzerland on 20 January 2018. At the meeting, North Korea and South Korea asked the IPC if they could compete as one team. On 27 February, the two countries met at a small village on the border with South Korea. They discussed how the two countries would compete together at the Winter Games. The Government of South Korea thinks the North going to the Games is important. They think it can reduce the tensions between the two countries.