 SEOUL (Reuters) - The two Koreas will field a combined women’s ice hockey team and march together under one flag at next month’s Winter Olympics in the South, Seoul said on Wednesday, after a new round of talks amid a thaw in cross-border ties. North and South Korea have been talking since last week - for the first time in more than two years - about the Olympics, offering a respite from a months-long standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs, although Japan urged caution over the North’s “charm offensive”. North Korea will send a delegation of more than 400, including 230 cheerleaders, 140 artists and 30 Taekwondo players for a demonstration, a joint press statement released by Seoul’s Unification Ministry said, adding the precise number of athletes will be hammered out after discussions with the IOC scheduled for later this week. Prior to the Games, the sides will carry out joint training for skiers at the North’s Masik Pass resort and a cultural event at the Mount Kumgang resort, for which Seoul officials plan to visit the sites next week. The nations have also agreed to form 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. A smaller delegation of North Korean athletes and supporters will attend the Paralympics, the ministry said. ‘IT’S NOT THE TIME’ 
 
 Twenty nations meeting in the Canadian city of Vancouver agreed on Tuesday to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned the North it could trigger a military response if it did not choose dialogue. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono called on the international community to be clear-eyed about North Korea's motivations for participating in the talks, which have been hailed by some as the most significant thaw in ties in years. But it criticised Japan's leader for refusing to ease the pressure on Pyongyang without the latter taking steps towards de-nuclearisation. “The fact that North Korea is engaging in dialogue could be interpreted as proof that the sanctions are working.” 
 
 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has refused to give up development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States in spite of increasingly severe U.N. sanctions, raising fears of a new war on the Korean peninsula. North Korea has remained adamant throughout this month's thaw in relations with South Korea that its nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles are here to stay. North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the relationship between the North and the South was "going towards detente". The number of petitions to the presidential Blue House’s website opposing a unified team shot up to more than 100 this week, with the most popular one garnering more than 17,000 votes. Image: North Korean Jon Jong Su crosses the border to attend talks at the truce village of Panmunjom 
 
 The most popular has more than 11,000 signatures, with one person writing: "This isn't the same as gluing a broken plate together". Image: The teams march under one flag at the East Asian Games in 2005 
 
 Officials have also agreed that a 140-piece orchestra from North Korea will perform in the South during the Olympics. Pyongyang is also planning to send a large delegation in addition to the athletes and orchestra. Slideshow (5 Images) 
 
 “In the end, they are using this old tactic to get to Washington through Seoul.” 
 
 Reclusive North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. China, which did not attend the Vancouver meeting, said on Wednesday the gathering showed a Cold War mentality and would only undermine a settlement of the North Korea problem.
– North and South Korea will compete together under one unified flag at next month's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, in what will be the first such arrangement since 2006. South Korea previously announced North Korea would send officials, athletes, and a cheer squad to the Olympics following talks between the two countries. It has now revealed North Korea's intention to send a 550-member delegation. Among those arriving in South Korea beginning on Jan. 25 will be female ice hockey players joining a team of South Korean athletes (they'll compete under a flag showing the Korean Peninsula in blue on a white background), as well as 230 cheerleaders, 140 orchestra members, and 30 people who will take part in a taekwondo demonstration, report Sky News and CNN. Ahead of the Olympics, skiers from both countries will also train together in North Korea, per CNN. The thawing of relations between the North and South has drawn praise from some. But others, like Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, fear Kim Jong Un only hopes to ease international pressure while continuing to develop a nuclear weapons arsenal. "It is not the time to ease pressure, or to reward North Korea," Kono said Tuesday in Vancouver, Canada, where 20 countries met and agreed to consider tougher sanctions on the North, per Reuters. Warning countries not to be fooled by its "charm offensive," Kono added, "The fact that North Korea is engaging in dialogue could be interpreted as proof that the sanctions are working." China avoided the meeting, saying it showed a "Cold War mentality."