North Korea will send its highest ranking official for years to the South amid an easing of tensions during the Winter Olympics.

Kim Yong-nam, the ceremonial head of state, will lead a 22-member delegation to the South beginning on Friday.

He is the head of the parliament in the North and will be the highest-level official to visit South Korea in four years.

The two Koreas’ athletes will march under one flag at the opening ceremony.

The North’s participation in the Games is widely seen as a diplomatic manoeuvre by Pyongyang.

North Korea currently faces growing international pressure and sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes.