North Korean Kim Jong Hyon competing in the men's 15km sitting cross-country skiing event in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The 17-year-old and fellow rookie skier Ma Yu Chol, 27, were making their country's Winter Paralympics debut yesterday. Although they were the last two to finish in 1hr 12min 49.9sec and 1hr 4min 57.3 sec respectively, a crowd cheered them on enthusiastically in the latest sign of an Olympics-fuelled rapprochement. The duo are the only competitors in North Korea's 18-member delegation at the Games. North and South relations have thawed in recent weeks, with both sets of athletes marching under a unified flag at last month's Winter Olympics opening ceremony. This was followed by a historic meeting in North Korea last week, the first time in more than a decade that senior officials from the South had crossed the border.