South Korea announced it will "cover the costs" of North Korea's Winter Olympics delegation, according to David Brennan of the INT'L BUSINESS TIMES. The bill, which will come to approximately 2.86B won ($2.64M), will be paid by the South's Ministry of Unification. The fund, created in '91, has an '18 budget of 962.4B won ($8.95M). The "biggest chunk" of the budget -- 1.2B won ($1.1M) -- will go to accommodation and catering costs of the 424-strong North Korean delegation, which includes over 200 cheerleaders, a 137-piece orchestra, taekwondo performers, journalists and other supporting personnel. Another 1B won ($930,000) will be used to "pay for entrance fees to Olympic venues," while 100M won ($93,000) was "earmarked for travel expenses." The bill of the 22 North Korean athletes competing in this year's Games "will be covered" by the IOC. Ministry spokesperson Baik Tae-hyun said that the costs of the high-level diplomatic delegation, which included Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong, "would be paid for separately from the South Korean government budget" (IB TIMES, 2/14).
