Liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-In ran on a platform that emphasized reaching out to North Korea for peace talks.

Moon’s hopes were quickly dashed by North Korea’s escalating nuclear and missile tests, and his leftist government is in trouble with its base for providing enthusiastic lip service to the hard line response to the threat from U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Now the South Korean leader is said to view the upcoming Winter Olympic Games as a new opportunity to reach out to Pyongyang.

Seoul welcomed a Jan. 1 proposal by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to send a delegation to the games. Seoul will host the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang from Feb. 9-25.

“We welcome that Kim expressed willingness to send a delegation and proposed talks as he acknowledged the need for improvement in inter-Korean ties,” South Korean presidential office spokesman Park Soo-Hyun told a press briefing.

“The successful launch of the games will contribute to stability not only on the Korean Peninsula but also in East Asia and the rest of the world.”

In a televised message on Jan. 1, Kim Jong-Un said he may send a delegation to the games and is open to talks with the South. But he also made it clear that Pyongyang would not give up its nuclear and missile programs, and he claimed that a “nuclear button” is always on his desk.

Related: Seoul’s peace pitch to North: Stop with the provocations and we’ll come up for talks, August 10, 2017

Lee Hee-Beom, head of the organizing committee for PyeongChang 2018, said it was “a positive sign” that North Korea had showed its willingness to take part in the first Winter Games to take place in South Korea.

“Our organizing committee has already been making preparations for North Korea’s participation,” Lee said. “All the processes for the North Korean delegation’s accommodation and transportation are in place.”

North Korea had a figure skating pairs duo of Ryom Tae-Ok and Kim Ju-Sik qualify for a spot in PyeongChang, but its national skating body missed an Oct. 30 deadline to submit their entry for the Olympics. North Korea also had an outside chance at qualifying in short track speed skating but skipped the final qualifying competition, held in Seoul last month.

North Korea can still send athletes to select events if the International Olympic Committee (IOC) grants the country some wild card spots.

“The basic principle for the IOC is that North Korea can compete in any event it wishes,” Lee said. “North Korea won’t be able to send athletes in every sport, but I expect it to have representation in figure skating, short track and cross-country skiing.”

Lee also mentioned women’s hockey as a potential event for North Korea.

Pyongyang may assess that its participation is an act to “help” the South, according to a report by the South’s state-run Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS).

“In exchange for that, it cannot be ruled out that it would demand Seoul lift economic sanctions against it and resume economic cooperative projects and humanitarian aid,” the report said.

Seoul has imposed unilateral sanctions over the North’s nuclear and missile tests and also banned inter-Korean exchanges to punish the North for the sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010. The South also closed an inter-Korean industrial complex in the North’s border city of Kaesong in 2016.

“The North is likely to give weight to participation (in the Winter Olympics), but it is expected to make a final decision in tandem with the South’s attitude,” INNS added.

The report said that, at future talks with the South, the North could demand the suspension of military drills between the South and the U.S. as well as Washington’s stopping the regular deployment of its strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula.

“Pyongyang could call for such conditions when it opens talks with Seoul over the Olympics, a move aimed at taking an upper hand in inter-Korean ties,” the INNS report said.

The INNS said that the Kim Jong-Un regime will likely refrain from provocations at least until the opening of the Winter Games.

“But it also cannot be ruled out that the North could resume provocative acts if Seoul and Washington resume their joint military drills after the games,” it said.

The INNS added that Pyongyang could focus on putting nuclear weapons and missiles into operational deployment, rather that carrying out additional testing.

Login To Your FaceBook to Make Comments </s> • South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to make several steps towards denuclearization to promote "a land of peace" after their summit in Pyongyang on Wednesday.
• One of the key parts of the Pyongyang Joint Declaration included the "permanent dismantlement" of North Korea's primary nuclear facility in Yongbyon, and allowing international inspectors to observe the disassembly of an engine test site.
• Moon prefaced this plan by noting the US needed to reciprocate the measure.
• Kim and Moon also agreed to collaborate on a bid to host the 2032 Summer Olympics. Additionally, Kim said he "promised" to visit Seoul "in the near future."

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to make several steps toward denuclearization to promote "a land of peace" after their summit in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

Kim and Moon signed the Pyongyang Joint Declaration, which offered more specifics than in previous agreements, in front of gaggle of news reporters for their third summit meeting. Moon arrived on Wednesday as the first South Korean president in Pyongyang in 11 years.

One of the key parts of the agreement included the "permanent dismantlement" of North Korea's primary nuclear facility in Yongbyon, and allowing international inspectors to confirm the disassembly of an engine test site. Moon prefaced this plan by noting the US needed to reciprocate the measure.

"We have agreed to make the Korean Peninsula a land of peace that is free from nuclear weapons and nuclear threat," Kim said. "The road to our future will not always be smooth and we may face challenges and trials we can't anticipate. But we aren't afraid of headwinds because our strength will grow as we overcome each trial based on the strength of our nation."

Kim and Moon also agreed to make a joint bid to host the 2032 Summer Olympics. The two countries competed together during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, despite some protests from conservative South Korean lawmakers and athletes. The move was part of an initial effort to improve relations between the two Koreas ahead of a summit between the US and North Korea, which took place in June.

Kim also said he "promised" to visit Seoul "in the near future." Moon reiterated the claim by saying that a potential visit may take place in 2018 "unless there are certain special circumstances." A visit by a North Korean leader to Seoul, the first since the Korean Peninsula was divided, would likely spark mass protests, just as it did when North Korea's delegation of athletes and musical performers visited the country during the Winter Olympics.

Former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un's father, made a similar promise to visit Seoul after a summit in 2000, but the trip never happened.

While the two leaders expressed cautious optimism in the months ahead, the US, South Korea's key ally, expressed concern over the developments. US-North Korean diplomatic relations have seemingly stalled after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suddenly canceled his trip to North Korea in August.

President Donald Trump embraced Kim since their June meeting in Singapore. Conversely, Trump has sought to drive a wedge between China and the North, at times scapegoating China for slowing the diplomatic process.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a skeptic of North Korea's recent outreach to the international community, said he was "concerned" over Moon's visit to Pyongyang.

"I'm concerned South Korea's visit is going to undermine efforts by [Pompeo] and [US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley] to impose maximum pressure on the North Korean regime," Graham said in a tweet on Tuesday. "While North Korea has stopped testing missiles and nuclear devices, they have NOT moved toward denuclearization."

"South Korea should not be played by Kim Jong Un," Graham added. </s> SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet members of North Korea's Olympics delegation on Saturday, including North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister, the Blue House said on Thursday.

Moon will also hold a lunch with the North Korean delegation, his spokesman, Kim Eui-kyeom, told a media briefing. The location has yet to be confirmed, according to a Blue House official who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

 (This version of the story corrects to clarify location has not been confirmed)

 

 (Reporting by Christine Kim and Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Nick Macfie) </s> PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter toured the 2018 Winter Olympics on Saturday, the morning after telling South Korea’s president that she will use her visit to the Pyeongchang Games to advocate maximum pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear program.

Ivanka Trump, who is one of her father’s close advisers, is leading the U.S. delegation at this weekend’s closing ceremony for the Pyeongchang Games. Under cloudy skies, she watched her first event Saturday morning – big-air snowboarding.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in highlighted to Trump how the Olympics have served as a vehicle for dialogue between the two Koreas, and said the U.S. and South Korea should make use of the current mood of rapprochement between the Koreas in seeking denuclearization.

At a closed-door meeting before a banquet Friday night at the presidential compound, Moon told Trump that talks on denuclearization and the inter-Korean dialogue must move forward side by side, Moon’s press secretary, Yoon Young-chan, told reporters. Trump responded by pushing for joint efforts by the U.S. and South Korea to apply maximum pressure on North Korea, Yoon said.

The differences in how the U.S. and South Korea hope to achieve denuclearization were also apparent during the banquet. In her remarks, Trump said she was in South Korea to celebrate the Olympics and to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to a ”maximum pressure campaign to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is denuclearized.”

On Friday, the Trump administration announced sanctions on more than 50 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses to turn up the pressure on North Korea. U.S. officials said that Trump had discussed the action with Moon ahead of the announcement in Washington.

In Pyeongchang on Saturday morning, Ivanka Trump watched snowboarders go on runs at the big-air jump. A smiling Trump, wearing a Team USA hat and red snowsuit, chatted with members of her delegation and South Korea first lady Kim Jung-suk. Also with her was IOC board member and 1998 hockey gold medalist Angela Ruggiero.

A high-level North Korean delegation will also attend Sunday’s Olympic closing ceremony, but the South Korean government said it’s unlikely that Ivanka Trump will meet the North Koreans. Vice President Mike Pence, who attended the Olympics’ opening ceremony, sat awkwardly in a VIP box with the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un behind him. The two had no apparent contact.

Moon hopes to make the Olympics an avenue for peace on the divided Korean Peninsula.

”North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympic Games has served as an opportunity for us to engage in active discussions between the two Koreas and this has led to lowering of tensions on the peninsula and an improvement in inter-Korean relations,” Moon said.

Moon met Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, a day after the opening ceremony and urged North Korea to do more to engage in a dialogue with the United States.

While the games appear to have paved the way for possible rapprochement between the Koreas, U.S. and North Korean officials have yet to make direct contact. Earlier this week, the U.S. government said Pence had been set to meet North Korean officials during his visit to South Korea, but that the North Korean side canceled at the last minute.

For now, there are no signs that Ivanka Trump will meet Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee, who is to attend the closing ceremony.

The White House has emphasized that the purpose of her visit is to celebrate the achievements of the athletes, noting that she is a winter sports enthusiast herself. She is expected to attend the games on Saturday before Sunday’s closing ceremony.

Errin Haines Whack is a national writer for The Associated Press. Youkykung Lee contributed to this report from Seoul. </s> PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter toured the 2018 Winter Olympics on Saturday, the morning after telling South Korea’s president that she will use her visit to the Pyeongchang Games to advocate maximum pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear program.

Ivanka Trump, who is one of her father’s close advisers, is leading the U.S. delegation at this weekend’s closing ceremony for the Pyeongchang Games. Under cloudy skies, she watched her first event Saturday morning – Big Air snowboarding.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in highlighted to Trump how the Olympics have served as a vehicle for dialogue between the two Koreas, and said the U.S. and South Korea should make use of the current mood of rapprochement between the Koreas in seeking denuclearization.

At a closed-door meeting before a banquet Friday night at the presidential compound, Moon told Trump that talks on denuclearization and the inter-Korean dialogue must move forward side by side, Moon’s press secretary, Yoon Young-chan, told reporters. Trump responded by pushing for joint efforts by the U.S. and South Korea to apply maximum pressure on North Korea, Yoon said.

The differences in how the U.S. and South Korea hope to achieve denuclearization were also apparent during the banquet. In her remarks, Trump said she was in South Korea to celebrate the Olympics and to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to a ”maximum pressure campaign to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is denuclearized.”

On Friday, the Trump administration announced sanctions on more than 50 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses to turn up the pressure on North Korea. U.S. officials said that Trump had discussed the action with Moon ahead of the announcement in Washington.

In Pyeongchang on Saturday morning, Ivanka Trump watched snowboarders go on runs at the Big Air jump and saw American snowboarder Kyle Mack take a silver medal.

A smiling Trump, wearing a Team USA hat and red snowsuit, chatted with members of her delegation and South Korea first lady Kim Jung-suk. Also with her was IOC board member and 1998 hockey gold medalist Angela Ruggiero.

After the event ended, Trump spoke with some of the South Korean athletes who were guests of the delegation and posed for selfies.

A high-level North Korean delegation will also attend Sunday’s Olympic closing ceremony, but the South Korean government said it’s unlikely that Ivanka Trump will meet the North Koreans. Vice President Mike Pence, who attended the Olympics’ opening ceremony, sat awkwardly in a VIP box with the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un behind him. The two had no apparent contact.

Moon hopes to make the Olympics an avenue for peace on the divided Korean Peninsula.

”North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympic Games has served as an opportunity for us to engage in active discussions between the two Koreas and this has led to lowering of tensions on the peninsula and an improvement in inter-Korean relations,” Moon said.

Moon met Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, a day after the opening ceremony and urged North Korea to do more to engage in a dialogue with the United States.

While the games appear to have paved the way for possible rapprochement between the Koreas, U.S. and North Korean officials have yet to make direct contact. Earlier this week, the U.S. government said Pence had been set to meet North Korean officials during his visit to South Korea, but that the North Korean side canceled at the last minute.

For now, there are no signs that Ivanka Trump will meet Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee, who is to attend the closing ceremony.

The White House has emphasized that the purpose of her visit is to celebrate the achievements of the athletes, noting that she is a winter sports enthusiast herself. She is expected to attend the games on Saturday before Sunday’s closing ceremony.

Errin Haines Whack is a national writer for The Associated Press. Youkykung Lee contributed to this report from Seoul. </s> Children pose in front of an electric board that shows the number of days left until the opening of 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games as the official mascots, a white tiger “Soohorang” for the Olympic, left, and black bear “Bandabi” for the Paralympic, are displayed in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018. South Korea on Tuesday offered high-level talks with rival North Korea to find ways to cooperate on next month’s Winter Olympics in the South. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korea on Tuesday offered high-level talks with rival North Korea to find ways to co-operate on next month’s Winter Olympics in the South. Seoul’s quick proposal following a rare rapprochement overture from the North a day earlier offers the possibility of better ties after a year that saw a nuclear standoff increase fear of war on the Korean Peninsula.

In a closely watched New Year’s address, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Monday that he was willing to send a delegation to the Olympics, though he also repeated fiery nuclear threats against the United States. Analysts say Kim may be trying to drive a wedge between Seoul and its ally Washington in a bid to reduce international isolation and sanctions against North Korea.

Kim’s overture was welcome news for a South Korean government led by liberal President Moon Jae-in, who favours dialogue to ease the North’s nuclear threats and wants to use the Pyeongchang Olympics as a chance to improve inter-Korean ties.

Moon’s unification minister, Cho Myoung-gyon, proposed in a nationally televised news conference that the two Koreas meet Jan. 9 at the shared border village of Panmunjom to discuss Olympic co-operation and how to improve overall ties.

Earlier Tuesday, Moon spoke of what he described as Kim’s positive response to his earlier dialogue overtures and ordered officials to study how to restore talks with North Korea and get the North to participate in the Olympics.

North Korea did not immediately react. But if there are talks, they would be the first formal dialogue between the Koreas since December 2015. Relations between the Koreas have plunged as North Korea has expanded its weapons programs amid a hard-line stance by Moon’s conservative predecessors.

Last year, North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test and test-launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles as part of its push to possess a nuclear missile capable of reaching anywhere in the United States. The North was subsequently hit with toughened U.N. sanctions, and Kim and President Donald Trump exchanged warlike rhetoric and crude personal insults against each other.

Kim said in his speech Monday that North Korea last year achieved the historic feat of “completing” its nuclear forces. Outside experts say that it’s only a matter of time before the North acquires the ability to hurl nuclear weapons at the mainland U.S., but that the country still has a few technologies to master, such as a warhead’s ability to survive atmospheric re-entry.

Talks could provide a temporary thaw in strained inter-Korean ties, but conservative critics worry that they may only earn the North time to perfect its nuclear weapons. After the Olympics, inter-Korean ties could become frosty again because the North has made it clear it has no intention of accepting international calls for nuclear disarmament and instead wants to bolster its weapons arsenal in the face of what it considers increasing U.S. threats.

“Kim Jong Un’s strategy remains the same. He’s developing nukes while trying to weaken international pressure and the South Korea-U.S. military alliance and get international sanctions lifted,” said Shin Beomchul of the Seoul-based Korea National Diplomatic Academy.

He said the North might also be using its potential participation in the Pyeongchang Olympics as a chance to show its nuclear program is not intended to pose a threat to regional peace.

In his address Monday, Kim said the United States should be aware that his country’s nuclear forces are now a reality, not a threat. He said he has a “nuclear button” on his office desk, warning that “the whole territory of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear strike.”

He called for improved ties and a relaxation of military tensions with South Korea, saying the Winter Olympics could showcase the status of the Korean nation. But Kim also repeated that South Korea must stop annual military exercises with the United States, which he calls an invasion rehearsal against the North.

About 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea to help deter potential aggression from the North, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. </s> North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang "at an early date", the presidential Blue House in Seoul said, potentially setting up the first meeting of Korean leaders in more than 10 years.

Mr Kim's sister Kim Yo-jong, who is visiting South Korea to attend the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, delivered her brother's personal invitation during a meeting with Mr Moon at the Blue House, a presidential spokesman said.

Any meeting would represent a diplomatic coup for Moon, who swept to power last year on a policy of engaging more with the reclusive North.

The recent detente, anchored by South Korea's hosting of the Winter Olympic Games, came despite an acceleration in the North's weapons programme last year and pressure from Seoul's allies in Washington.

Mr Moon suggested the two Koreas "make it happen" by creating conditions necessary for him to accept the invitation, the spokesman told a news briefing.

Ms Kim arrived in South Korea on Friday with Kim Yong-nam, the North's nominal head of state, for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in the alpine resort town of Pyeongchang.

They shook hands with Mr Moon and cheered for athletes from the two countries who marched under a unified peninsula flag for the first time in a decade.

Some North Korean experts believe tough UN sanctions that are cutting off most of the isolated North's sources of revenue have added pressure on Pyongyang to engage further with Seoul.

"I think this overture towards South Korea is partly sanctions-related, and also related to the fact that it's clear a divergence has developed between Washington and Seoul's most keenly desired goals in the near term," said Andray Abrahamian, a research fellow at Pacific Forum CSIS in Hawaii.

"The North Koreans should understand that for a summit or any kind of serious talks to occur, Moon needs to be able to take something to Washington — something that addresses denuclearisation," he said before the North's invitation to Mr Moon was announced.

A visit by Mr Moon to the North would enable the first summit between leaders from the two Koreas since 2007. </s> SEOUL
• Pyongyang contacted the authorities in Seoul over a hotline for the first time in about two years, paving the way for a thaw during next month's Winter Olympics, which Pyongyang has offered to take part in.

Officials from both countries spoke several times yesterday to conduct technical checks before agreeing to stop for the day, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry.

Tensions over North Korea's nuclear programme had threatened to hang over the Games in Pyeongchang, a city about 80km from the border dividing the Korean peninsula.

South Korean President Moon Jae In has proposed holding talks on Tuesday at the border village of Panmunjom, which would be the first formal gathering between the two sides since 2015. But the North has yet to respond.

SEE TOP OF THE NEWS </s> North Korea is willing to hold talks with the United States, South Korean President Moon Jae-In said in a statement Sunday.

The South Korean leader said he’d met with the North Korean delegation that’s in Pyeongchang for the closing ceremony of the Winter Games, and told them that North Korea-US talks should happen “as soon as possible.”

Moon said the North Koreans indicated they were willing to talk with the US, and agreed that “the inter-Korean relationship and North Korea-US relationship should develop together.”

Developing story – more to come.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, responding to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's offer during his New Year’s Day address, proposes a meeting to discuss the Winter Olympics and North Korea's nuclear program next Tuesday at the border city of Panmunjom.