An advance team of a South Korean art troupe headed to North Korea on Thursday for their performances in Pyongyang ahead of the historic inter-Korean summit scheduled for late April.

A 160-member South Korean art troupe, including celebrated K-pop singers Cho Yong-pil, Red Velvet and Seohyun, is scheduled to visit North Korea from Saturday to Tuesday for two performances -- on Sunday and Tuesday. They will be accompanied by some 30 taekwondo players, reporters and government officials.

Some 70 technicians departed from Seoul's Gimpo Airport at about 10:30 a.m. aboard two chartered flights to Pyongyang via a direct air route over the Yellow Sea.
 

They will install stage equipment at venues for the performances -- the East Pyongyang Grand Theater and the Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium -- and check them.

The main group, including the singers, taekwondo players, reporters and government officials, is scheduled to leave Saturday.

It will be the first performances by South Korean artists in the North since 2005, when Cho Yong-pil had a solo concert at the Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium. The South Korean delegation will return home Tuesday night.(Yonhap)