North and South Korea agree to first talks

North and South Korea agreed to hold high-level talks next week to discuss Pyongyang’s potential participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February.

During a regular news briefing Friday, Unification Ministry spokesman Baek Tae-hyun said North Korea accepted Seoul’s offer to hold talks at the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday. The two sides will also discuss ways to improve their relations.

The announcement came shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to delay joint military exercises until after the Winter Games, which could cool tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

In a New Year’s Day address in which he said “a nuclear button is always on the desk of my office,” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un suggested North Korea was willing to engage in talks with the South and would be open to sending a delegation to the Winter Games. But he appeared to condition his participation on a halt to the spring military exercises conducted by the U.S. and South Korea. Later Monday, South Korea’s presidential Blue House released a statement welcoming Mr. Kim’s proposal.

South Korea took Mr. Kim up on his overture Tuesday by offering to meet next week, though it said it also wanted to discuss the North’s nuclear program.

And then Wednesday, officials from the North and South tested a special hotline for the first time in nearly two years. It had been severed by North Korea in 2016. North Korea dialed the South and the call lasted about 20 minutes, the unification ministry said.

South Korea’s government suggested delaying the joint military exercises and Messrs. Trump and Moon agreed to do that during a 30-minute phone call on Thursday. The South’s government favors dialogue with Pyongyang, and North Korea has long denounced the exercises as war preparations.

Source: AFP