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North Korea on Monday, 29 January, called off a joint cultural performance with artistes from the South ahead of the forthcoming Winter Olympics, Seoul said.
The event at Mount Kumgang, a renowned scenic spot in the North, had been due to take place on Sunday as part of a rapid apparent rapprochement between Seoul and nuclear-armed Pyongyang ahead of the Games in Pyeongchang next month.
But Seoul's Unification Ministry said the North told it the performance had been called off, in a development that indicates the limits of the improvement in relations.
Pyongyang is sending athletes to take part in the Games, after months of entreaties from Seoul to participate in a "peace Olympics", and the two have agreed to form a unified women's ice hockey team, their first such side since 1991.
This included the opinion that the unified team will deprive some Southern skaters of their chance to compete on the Olympic stage.
Pyongyang has also said it will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the foundation of its regular military on 8 February - the day before the opening ceremony for the Olympics - and satellite photos have shown soldiers and armoured vehicles rehearsing for a possible parade that would amount to a show of military strength.
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