World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue told insidethegames yesterday that the potential performance of the body’s Demonstration Team at this year’s ITF World Championships will be the main focus of a meeting scheduled to take place with Ri in Seoul tomorrow.

In what has been described as a "show of taekwondo unity and sportive goodwill", a North Korean demonstration team from the ITF performed alongside the World Taekwondo Demonstration Team during the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 World Taekwondo Championships here on Saturday (June 24) and is due to do so again at the Closing Ceremony this Friday (June 30).

Choue said that a "more detailed conversation" will be held at World Taekwondo's headquarters in Seoul over a reciprocal visit to the ITF World Championships in North Korea's capital Pyongyang in September.

Speaking at a dinner reception in South Korea's capital, Ri was reported as saying by The Korea Herald that "taekwondo is one, and (the ITF and World Taekwondo) should become one quickly".

"The door is now open, and all we have to do is walk through it," he added.

A North Korean demonstration team today performed at World Taekwondo’s headquarters, which are known as the Kukkiwon.

World Taekwondo is currently the only taekwondo body recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

But the ITF, led by North Korean Ri, is the older body having been founded in 1966 by Choi Hong Hi in Seoul.

Basic rules and techniques are the same across ITF and World Taekwondo competition.

The major difference is a cultural one, with ITF events geared more towards self-defence and World Taekwondo's more focused upon competitive sparring.

Following his exile from South Korea by the Park Chung-hee administration, Choi moved to Canada and established the ITF headquarters in Toronto, before moving them to Vienna in 1985.

North Korea's IOC member Chang Ung was elected President of the ITF after Choi's death in 2002, but was replaced by Ri in 2015.

In August 2014, Choue and Chang signed a Protocol of Accord during the Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.

One year later, a 22-member ITF demonstration team, including 13 North Koreans, performed at the Opening Ceremony of the World Taekwondo Championships in Russian city Chelyabinsk.

Chang, Ri, Choue and IOC President Thomas Bach, who himself is due to visit these World Taekwondo Championships for the Closing Ceremony, have all been closely involved in negotiations for continued cooperation.

Ri, Choue and Bach are all due to meet here.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who was elected last month after a cronyism scandal led to Park Geun-hye being impeached, has pledged greater dialogue with North Korea in a bid to reduce tensions between the two nations.

Tensions have risen in recent months with the United States and North Korea trading threats as the latter nation's leader Kim Jong-un launched new missile tests despite repeated warnings to stop.

The US are activating a missile defence system in South Korea and tightened sanctions against the North in April.