Images of Olympic table tennis players from North Korea and South Korea taking a selfie together with the Chinese winners have gone viral.

The moment was praised as a rare display of cross-border unity. South Korea won bronze and North Korea silver in the mixed doubles event behind China.

South Korea's Lim Jong-hoon initiated the group photo after the medal ceremony, and North Korea's Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong joined, along with South Korea's Shin Yu-bin and the Chinese pair Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha.

The South Korean duo of Shin Yu-bin and Lim Jong-hoon secured the bronze medal in the mixed doubles table tennis event at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, ending the country's 12-year Olympic table tennis medal drought.

The win over Hong Kong not only extended South Korea's medal streak but also had personal significance for 27-year-old Lim, who will now be exempted from his mandatory military service that was to commence next month.

"I tried to think of it (bronze medal match) as just one game, but I did feel the weight of it. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking of the military service," Lim said after the win.