North Korea fired a ballistic missile Sunday, Seoul said, resuming a weapons-testing blitz after a month-long lull during the Beijing Winter Olympics, with the world's attention now focused on Ukraine.

Beijing recorded its highest number of new Covid-19 cases for a year and a half on Sunday, as the Chinese capital gears up to host the Winter Olympics in five days.

Unlike the Games' opening, the North and South Korean athletes marched separately and waving their national flags, although some North Koreans held the blue-and-white Korean Unification emblem.

The Winter Olympics closing ceremony began late Sunday in Pyeongchang, bringing to an end 17 days of sports action.

Canadian skier David Duncan was arrested on charges of stealing a car in South Korea, where he was competing at the Winter Olympics, officials and Canadian media said on Saturday.

The United States is due to announce its largest package of sanctions yet against North Korea to further pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programme, as South Korea readies itself for more talks with the North's officials.

The Pyeongchang Games have become a venue for geopolitics as much as sports as the nuclear-armed North mounts a charm offensive.

Pierre Vaultier told French TV he was a fan of Novak Djokovic and had always wanted to meet the Serbian former world number one.

Seoul on Wednesday approved a $2.6 million budget to cover expenses for North Koreans visiting for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, officials said, after the North's leader praised the South's hospitality.

Eight robotics teams from universities, institutes and a private company competed for a $10,000 prize in the Ski Robot Challenge.

Vicious winds caused a string of crashes and complaints as America's Jamie Anderson survived the chaos to clinch her second straight slopestyle snowboarding Olympic gold in treacherous conditions on Monday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister joined athletes and officials from around the world at the South's Winter Olympics Friday, the first member of Pyongyang's ruling dynasty to set foot in its rival since the Korean War.