SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of -- North Korea readjusted its time zone to match South Korea's on Saturday and described the change as an early step toward making the longtime rivals "become one" following a landmark summit.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised to sync his country's time zone with the South's during his April 27 talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. A dispatch from the North's Korean Central News Agency says that promise was fulfilled Saturday by a decree of the nation's Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly.

The Koreas used the same time zone for decades before the North in 2015 created its own "Pyongyang Time" by setting its clocks 30 minutes behind South Korea and Japan. It said at the time that it did so to root out the legacy of Tokyo's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, when clocks in Korea were changed to be the same as in Japan.

"Pyongyang Time" was created as tensions between the authoritarian country and the U.S. grew over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program and international sanctions aimed at dismantling it. But in recent months relations between the Koreas have warmed dramatically, with Kim and Moon pledging at their summit to rid their peninsula of nuclear weapons.

The meeting produced many steps toward reconciliation, including an agreement to resume reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, though it lacked a breakthrough in the nuclear standoff. Those details await Kim and President Donald Trump, who are expected to meet in the coming weeks.

KCNA earlier said Kim proposed returning North Korea to the South's time zone because it was "a painful wrench to see two clocks indicating Pyongyang and Seoul times hanging on a wall of the summit venue."

The news agency said resynchronizing North and South Korean time was "the first practical step" since the summit "to speed up the process for the north and the south to become one and turn their different and separated things into the same and single ones."

According to South Korea, Kim has said he'd be willing to give up his nukes if the United States commits to a formal end to the war and pledges not to attack the North. But his exact demands for relinquishing weapons that his nation spent decades building remains unclear. </s> "The call has been made between the South and North’s liaison officers in Panmunjom," the official said.

According to the news agency, the phone call took place at 15:30 local time [06:30 GMT]. The two sides confirmed that the telephone and fax machines were operating normally.

No further details regarding the phone call have been provided.

Earlier in the day, a high-ranking North Korean official said that the country’s leader Kim Jong-un had ordered to reopen a contact channel between Pyongyang and Seoul to discuss issues related to the upcoming Olympic games in Pyeongchang.

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The day before, South Korea's Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon proposed holding high-level talks on January 9 between the two countries at the demilitarized zone, in Panmunjom in order to discuss the issue of North Korean athletes participating in the upcoming Olympics, slated for February 9-25.

However, following the proposition, US Envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that the US would not recognize any possible talks between the North and the South unless the talks resulted in a ban of all nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula </s> What time is it in South Korea? That's a good question, considering the Winter Olympics start with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, Feb. 9. It's the first Olympic Games held in South Korea for the first time since 1988. Pyeongchang is ready to offer its "Happy700," a slogan referencing the county's beloved 700-meter elevation, to an international audience.

What about the rest of us back home, however? What time will events be broadcast by NBC, which begins coverage on Feb. 8?

We've got you covered. First thing's first: Pyeongchang falls in the Korea Standard Time zone (UTC+0:900), which means there is a 14-hour difference between local time and Eastern Standard Time in the United States.

Here are the time differences for all time zones across the United States:

Pyeongchang time is also ahead of all those time zones, so if NBC is broadcasting live at 8 p.m. ET, that means it is actually 10 a.m. the following day in Pyeongchang. An event broadcast live at 8 a.m. ET, meanwhile, would actually be a 10 p.m. event in South Korea.

Get ready to stay up late, East Coasters! </s> U.S. President Donald Trump says the time and place for his landmark meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been set, although he declined to reveal the details.

"We now have a date and we have a location. We'll be announcing it soon," Trump told reporters on May 4 outside the White House before he departed for a trip to Dallas.

Trump earlier in the week hinted that the two leaders could meet at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas.

Preparations for the meeting have gained momentum since a summit on April 27 between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the DMZ.

The moves are helping to ease tensions on the peninsula and bring at least a temporary end to Pyongyang’s testing of nuclear weapons, which was conducted in defiance of United Nations resolutions.

And in another sign of the times, North Korea announced on May 4 that it had moved its clock ahead by 30 minutes to align itself with South Korea’s time zone.

North Korea introduced its own time zone in August 2015, when it turned back the clock by 30 minutes, calling it "Pyongyang time."

 

 Meanwhile, Trump also disputed a published report that he had asked the Pentagon to present a plan for the withdrawal or reduction of U.S. forces stationed in South Korea, saying such a move was "not on the table."

Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and dpa </s> SEOUL (Reuters) - International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a meeting on Friday that the IOC would cooperate with the North to prepare for its participation in the 2020 Tokyo and 2022 Beijing Olympic Games, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) has reported.

Bach traveled to Pyongyang on Thursday in a visit that comes after North Korea's participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Games helped ease inter-Korean relations.

He told Kim in a meeting that the trip was to "express the most heartfelt thanks" to North Korea's leader for helping make February's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics a Games that were "symbolic of peace," KCNA said on Saturday.

Athletes from North and South Korea marched under a unified peninsula flag at the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang and the two Koreas have experienced a significant thaw in tensions since the Feb. 9-25 Winter Olympics.

KCNA said Kim expressed thanks for the IOC's support and for cooperating with North Korea "regardless of any political climate and conditions".

He said he hoped that the IOC's relationship with the North's Olympic Committee would continue to develop favorably and expected cooperation in developing and improving sport in North Korea, the report added.

An official from South Korea's Unification Ministry said it was aware of the KCNA's report but declined to comment further.

Bach had accepted North Korea's invitation in February, and told Reuters at the time that he saw sports as a way to reduce political tensions.

After Kim made a surprise trip this week to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, his engagement with the international community has sparked speculation he may try to meet other leaders ahead of summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and United States President Donald Trump.

The two Koreas have experienced a significant easing in tensions since the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February, leading them to set a date to hold their first summit in more than a decade on April 27. </s> The Latest on North Korea’s decision to restore a key cross-border communication channel with rival South Korea (all times local):

South Korea says it is welcoming North Korea’s decision to restore a key cross-border communication channel.

The South’s Unification Ministry said Wednesday it will try to use the communication channel at the border village of Panmunjom to discuss its offer to hold high-level talks on how to cooperate with the North during next month’s Winter Olympics in the South.

Seoul on Tuesday proposed the rivals meet at Panmunjom on Jan. 9, but Pyongyang hasn’t responded to its offer.

The North’s decision to restore the Panmunjom communication channel was announced by a senior Pyongyang official who appeared on state TV and said the decision was made by leader Kim Jong Un. </s> Seemingly following through on earlier hints of dialogue with South Korea, North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un has ordered to reopen the border hotline with Seoul for negotiations, according to a televised statement.

The discussions will focus on sending North Korean athletes to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics which will kick off in South Korea next month, according to the statement issued by an unnamed Northern official.

The North will open dialogue at 7:00am GMT (3:00 pm Pyongyang time) at the shared border village of Panmunjom, the statement said as cited by Yonhap.

Kim Jong-un had said he was open to talks with Seoul in his New Year address, saying the two Koreas should "lower the military tensions on the Korean Peninsula to create a peaceful environment." Kim added that efforts should be made by “both the North and the South."

Seoul's presidential office welcomed the reconciliatory message, and the unification minister suggested holding talks next week in the demilitarized zone along the inter-Korean border.

There has been no inter-Korean communication since February 2016, when Pyongyang cut the channels in protest at Seoul’s closing down of a joint industrial complex which employed North Koreans. </s> Seoul, South Korea (CNN) North Korea has accepted South Korea's proposal for official talks in what will be the first high-level contact between the two countries in more than two years.

South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told reporters Friday that North Korea informed Seoul by fax that it has accepted the offer to initiate talks.

The person-to-person talks will be held Tuesday -- the day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's birthday -- at the Peace House in the village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, Baik said.

The two sides agreed to work on the details of the talks "through the exchange of documents," Baik said, adding that agenda items will be "issues related to improving inter-Korean relationships, including the Pyeongchang Olympic Games."

A statement from the International Olympic Committee said it welcomes talks aimed at having North Korean athletes compete in next month's Winter Games in South Korea.

The IOC said it was continuing discussions with the North Korean National Olympic Committee and keeping its invitation open for a delegation.

North Korean figure skaters Ryom Tae-Ok and Kim Ju-Sik have qualified for the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Two North Korean athletes, figure skaters Ryom Tae-Ok and Kim Ju-sik, have qualified for the Games. While Pyongyang has missed a registration deadline for the two, the IOC could allow an exception to be made.

The faxed message accepting the long-standing offer of talks was from Ri Son-kwon, chairman of the North Korean Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland. It was addressed to South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-Gyon, Baik said.

Baik said the decision of who would attend the meetings was still being finalized.

The last such high-level talk was a deputy ministerial meeting in December 2015 at the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea.

The complex, which opened in 2004 in a rare show of cooperation between the two Koreas, was shuttered last year as Pyongyang ramped up its missile and nuclear testing.

Possible thaw

The announcement of talks comes on the heels of other signs of rapprochement between the two rivals.

At least five calls have been placed through the cross-border channel since then, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry. In what's widely regarded as a diplomatic breakthrough, a hotline between Seoul and Pyongyang rang again in recent days after going unused for two years.At least five calls have been placed through the cross-border channel since then, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry.

Contact between the countries has resumed since the North Korean leader expressed hope during his New Year's Day address that a North Korean delegation might participate in the Winter Games.

Kim also expressed a desire for a peaceful resolution to the decades-old conflict with South Korea. The Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953, meaning the two nations technically have been at war since then.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in told CNN last year that North Korean participation in the Pyeongchang Olympics would "provide a very good opportunity for inter-Korean peace and reconciliation."

Russia to US: Don't undermine talks

A top Russian official welcomed the restoration of communication and urged the United States to avoid making threatening statements that could undermine talks.

according to "We are pleased to note the readiness of Seoul and Pyongyang to have direct contacts," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday,according to Russian state-run news agency TASS.

Calling the new developments "a step in the right direction," Ryabkov said, "The hotline is a useful and important tool for de-escalation in unforeseen circumstances." He said Russia will work with all players to help improve the state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula.

"In this situation, other participants in this drama should be extremely cautious, balanced and restrained in statements and assessments so as not to undermine such a fragile chance for some more or less stable political process," he said. "Accordingly, statements of a threatening nature, signals, even if not from officials but from politicians, still have an impact on the situation."

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Stronger hand

The advanced stage of North Korea's weapons program could afford its leadership the luxury of diplomacy, said Tong Zhao, a North Korea analyst and fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy.

"I think Kim Jong Un is now (in) a different position after the Hwasong-15 (long-range missile) testing. At a minimum, North Korea has achieved a rudimentary strategic deterrent and can afford to not continue testing. ... North Korea apparently has plans to mass-produce missiles and nuclear warheads but could (now) consider a moratorium on ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) tests."

Zhao said he views the resumption of talks as a positive sign and considers next week's meeting to be a first step in improving bilateral relations.

"After Kim Jong Un made the overture in his New Year address, the two sides quickly resumed the hotline and agreed to meet -- the pace of development is very quick," he said.

"There is an indication that North Korea wants to explore broader issues. I expect they will engage in other issues as well (at the talks). ... It's hard to tell how quickly they will settle the Olympic issue, but it's clear that both sides want to go further with these talks."

Differing reaction

A similar sense of optimism has yet to extend beyond the Korean Peninsula.

On Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called North Korea's nuclearization "absolutely unacceptable " and said his country's security situation was the most severe since World War II.

US officials have so far maintained a similarly skeptical stance regarding Kim's sincerity in soothing tensions.

Speaking Tuesday, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, issued a stern warning to North Korea, saying Washington "will never accept a nuclear North Korea."

However, the hard-line US stance may be softening in light of recent developments. In a phone call Thursday, President Donald Trump and Moon agreed not to host joint military drills during the period of the Pyeongchang Olympics, according to a South Korean government statement.

A senior US military official also confirmed to CNN there would be no joint exercises during the Games.

"(Even) if South Korea-North Korea relations improve thanks to the Olympics, the US-South Korea (military) drills will still take place after that, which could still be major reason for turbulence going forward," said Zhao, the North Korea analyst.

Kim has long criticized the US-South Korean drills, declaring them a direct threat to Pyongyang, and a possible barrier to the resumption of diplomatic talks.

The decision to hold off on military drills is a diplomatic response from the US President, who earlier this week bragged in a tweet that his nuclear button was "much bigger & more powerful" than Kim's.

Trump has since sought to take credit for the resumption of communications between Pyongyang and Seoul.

"With all of the failed 'experts' weighing in, does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasn't firm, strong and willing to commit our total 'might' against the North," Trump tweeted Thursday morning.

"Fools, but talks are a good thing!" he added. </s> Seoul (CNN) North and South Korean athletes will march together at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony under a unified flag, the South said Wednesday, in a diplomatic breakthrough following days of talks between the two countries.

The nations have also agreed to form a joint North and South Korean women's ice hockey team for the Games in Pyeongchang, which begin early next month, South Korea's unification ministry said.

The unification ministry announced a range of joint activities between the countries for the Games, following talks Wednesday at the demilitarized zone (DMZ).

North and South Korean skiers will train together at a resort in North Korea before the Olympics start, and performers from the two countries will also hold a joint cultural event at Mount Kumgang.

North Korea will also send around 230 supporters to cheer on its athletes. A smaller delegation of North Korean athletes and supporters will attend the Paralympics, the ministry said.

The Korean Unification Flag features a blue silhouette of the peninsula and outlying islands. The two countries have marched under the flag before, in rare shows of unity, first at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships, and at a number of sporting events since. It was most recently used at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy

The International Olympics Committee (IOC) would need to approve the countries' agreements, and those that affect competition, such as the joint hockey team, could be more complicated than the ceremonial proposals.

The committee said Wednesday it had received a number of "interesting proposals" that it would discuss with delegates from both countries in Switzerland on Saturday.

"We are sure that the two Korean delegations will present their ideas and proposals at the meeting on Saturday in Lausanne. This will then enable the IOC to carefully evaluate the consequences and the potential impact on the Olympic Games and the Olympic competitions," it said in a statement.

Diplomatic thaw

Wednesday's announcement is the latest breakthrough since talks began between the two Koreas earlier this month, after years of broken communications.

While the two sides have earned praise for ratcheting down military tensions in recent weeks, some of Seoul's allies voiced concern Wednesday that Pyongyang may be using the talks to buy time to pursue its weapons program.

The US military has moved more firepower to the region and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned of complacency at a Tuesday summit in Vancouver where the top diplomats from the United States, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom were in town to discuss North Korea.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono called on the international community to be clear-eyed about North Korea's motivations for participating in the talks, which have been hailed by some as the most significant thaw in ties in years.

"I believe that North Korea wants to buy some time to continue their nuclear and missile programs," Kono said at the meeting. "It's not the time to ease pressure towards North Korea."

China denounced the Vancouver talks, and the United Nations Command, under whose framework they are being held, as demonstrating "Cold War mentality."

"(Such thinking) will only lead to split in the international community and harm the joint efforts that could properly solve the nuclear issue on Korea peninsula," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Wednesday.

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Limited progress

It remains to be seen how much progress achieved before the Olympics will be retained after the games are over, or if tensions will again worsen.

John Park, director of the Korea Working Group at the Harvard Kennedy School, warned against viewing the talks as a major breakthrough.

"Both Koreas are primarily utilizing the talks for a limited objective -- arranging the participation of a North Korean delegation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics," Park said.

South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said the talks were a "significant step" but acknowledged the serious challenges ahead: "Despite these overtures to improve relations with the South, North Korea has yet to show any intention to fulfill its international obligations regarding denuclearization."

North Korea has remained adamant throughout this month's thaw in relations with South Korea that its nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles are here to stay.

Joint US-South Korea military drills -- which always infuriate Pyongyang and raise tensions on the peninsula -- have been suspended for the duration of the upcoming Olympics as a show of good faith, but they are likely resume following the competition.
At 23:30 local time, North Korea changes its time zone to match South Korea (UTC+09:00) – a "first practical" impetus for Korean reunification, says the official North Korean agency KCNA.