North Korea hopes to send a group of cheerleaders to join athletes at the Incheon Asian Games this September, the Korea Central News Agency declared on Sunday.

A statement said the despatch of a “cheering delegation” would “help melt frozen North-South relations”.

The Asian Games, which will see 40 countries from the region compete in one of the largest non-Olympic sporting events in the world, will feature athletes from both North and South Korea.

Chris Green, international editor at the Daily NK, said that the women North Korea hoped to send to South Korea would likely be “loyal…the same