South Korea on Friday gave the greenlight to the North Korean women’s national football team to play in Seoul in the East Asian championships later this month.

It will be the first time North Korean footballers have visited the South since 2009, and comes as tensions between the two rivals have cooled following the restoration of a cross-border hotline.

The South’s unification ministry said that 21 North Korean women footballers and 15 officials would fly into Seoul on July 18.

The ministry also said a group of 41 pro-Pyongyang residents living in Japan would be given permission to visit Seoul to support the North.

The trip was arranged by the (South) Korea Football Association, it said.

The North’s squad will compete with South Korea, China and Japan in the women’s tournament from July 20-28, the ministry said.

The East Asian cup, founded in 2003, will see South Korea, Japan, China and Australia compete in the men’s edition.

There have been no cross-border sports exchanges for four years, although the two Koreas have met at major sporting events abroad.

South Korea has urged the North to participate in next year’s Asian Games in the western port city of Incheon.

The announcement comes a day after South Korea proposed talks with the North about reopening a joint industrial zone which shut down amid high military tensions.