Yang Seung-jun, the head of the Pyeongchang preparatory and planning team, told The Hankyoreh that the world governing body made the suggestion regularly to combat a lack of talent in the Asian nation.

Seven athletes in the men's side were born elsewhere while four of the women's squad have come in from foreign countries.

South Korea has also naturalised athletes in other winter sports before their home Games - including luge, figure skating and biathlon - but the practice has always been controversial. 

"In ice hockey, it has become common for people to change their nationality to compete in the Games," Yang said.

"We also bowed to repeated recommendations from the IIHF to recruit athletes from overseas because there are just 200 adult hockey players in the country.

"We weren't able to recruit world-class athletes. 

"But our homegrown athletes have learnt a lot by training with these good-natured and hard-working athletes."

South Korea's foreign legion includes Canadian-born players Matt Dalton, Alex Plante, Eric Regan, Bryan Young and Michael Swift.

The country aims to reach the quarter-finals at Pyeongchang 2018 and has qualified for the top tier of the 2018 World Championships in Denmark.