But it provided a welcome reprieve for South Koreans who have grown both alarmed and tired over the tensions and talks of possible war in the peninsula.
The Trump administration has said repeatedly that all options are available, including military ones, in forcing North Korea to give up its development of nuclear missiles capable of reaching the United States, although it prefers a diplomatic solution. The president of the General Assembly, Miroslav Lajcak of Slovakia, said on Twitter: "Heartened by reports that Koreans from DPRK & RoK will march together in @Olympics opening ceremony".
North and South Korea will march under one flag as their first joint Olympic team ompetes in the winter games next month.
North Korea under Kim Jong Un has made sports, and especially success in worldwide sporting events, a high priority. Including athletes, the largest delegation ever sent was a 650-member group for the 2002 Asian Games held in Busan. North Korea has also planned on sending 140 artists and 30 Taekwondo athletes for a demonstration according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.
The two Koreas also agreed to hold a joint cultural event at Mount Kumgang, the scenic resort in the DPRK's eastern region, before the Winter Olympic kicks off on February 9.
North and South Korea will also hold talks hosted by the International Olympic Committee, separate from the inter-Korean talks, on Saturday.
That proposal led to a series of talks in Panmunjom between the two Korean governments.
He said it was possible North Korea's presence "may be their early effort to break the ice".
It would be the repetition of the reconciliation scenes which had been seen many times under the governments of liberal South Korean presidents.
While Murray acknowledged having the two countries come together at the Olympics is "great for the politics and world relations", she said she would have preferred "this had been done three to four years ago, when we started this journey".
Still, that plan, proposed by politicians, has met pushback on behalf of athletes from the No. 22-ranked South Korea team's Canadian coach, and its first Olympic opponent, Switzerland. The Korean Unification flag, which depicts a blue silhouette of the peninsula and its outlying islands on a white background, was made to represent both countries as one team during sporting events.
The proposal to field a joint hockey team and march in unison still has to be approved by the International Olympic Committee.
"If the South and North form a united team and participate in the Olympic games, I think it will become a historic moment".
Nuclear-armed Pyongyang agreed last week to take part in next month's Pyeongchang Games which are taking place just 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the peninsula. The Swiss hockey federation said in comments reported by South Korea's Yonhap news agency that this was "not fair and distorts competition".