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South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon (left) exchanges a joint press statement with the head of North Korean delegation Ri Son-gwon at their meeting at the Panmunjeom in the DMZ in Paju, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. (AP-Yonhap)

North Korea on Tuesday confirmed its participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, and agreed to hold military talks with South Korea.The agreement came in the first inter-Korean talks to be held in more than two years.South Korea’s delegation, led by Minister of Unification Cho Myoung-gyon, and the North Korean delegation met at Panmunjeom at 10 a.m. The North Korean delegation was led by Ri Son-gwon, the chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country. The CPRC is North Korea’s state agency handling inter-Korean affairs.“The South and the North agreed to collaborate in facilitating reconciliation and unity by easing military tension, and to establish a peaceful environment,” the two sides said in a joint press statement.“The South and the North agreed on the need to ease military tensions and to hold military talks to resolve the issue.”The statement went on to stress that the two Koreas will take the lead in resolving “all issues raised in inter-Korean relations.”Under the agreement, the North will send in addition to the athletes, an Olympic Committee delegation, cheering squad, cultural performance troupe, taekwondo demonstration group, delegation of observers and press.In addition, the two Koreas agreed to hold further high-level talks and engage in dialogue concerning other areas of inter-Korean relations.The matter of holding reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, however, was not mentioned in the statement.In its assessment of the talks, the Ministry of Unification echoed Cheong Wa Dae’s earlier assessment that the talks will pave the way for improving inter-Korean relations.The ministry also said the talks served to relay the Moon Jae-in administration’s North Korean policies and improve mutual understanding.The talks, however, did not end without friction between the two sides.According to Seoul officials, Ri expressed “strong discontent” at the South Korean delegation’s mention of denuclearization at the start of the talks.At the opening of the meeting at 10 a.m., the South Korean delegation suggested military talks as well as family reunions in February, and called on the North to reduce tensions on the peninsula and “resume dialogue to establish peace including denuclearization.”In the final meeting, Ri is also said to have expressed discontent at South Korea’s decision to announce the re-establishment of the West Sea military hotline, saying the line had been revived on Jan. 3.The two Koreas installed military hotlines on the east and west sides of the country in 2009. The West Sea line was deactivated by the North in 2016 after the inter-Korean Kaesong industrial park was shut down in 2016. The East Sea hotline was lost in a wildfire in 2010.Tuesday’s talks lasted nearly 12 hours, with the two sides holding a number of meetings interspersed with breaks.The initial meeting, involving all delegation members, lasted just over an hour before breaking at 11:05 a.m. The talks resumed at 11:30 a.m., though just between the chief delegates.The two sides held another four meetings that excluded the chief delegates, before the final meeting at 8 p.m.By Choi He-suk, Jung Min-kyung & Joint Press Corps( cheesuk@heraldcorp.com ) (mkjung@heraldcorp.com) </s> North and South Korea have taken steps towards reducing their bitter animosity during rare talks, as the North agreed to send a delegation to next month's Winter Olympics in the South and reopen a military hotline.

The meeting, the first of its kind in about two years, was arranged after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made an abrupt push for improved ties with the South following a year of elevated tensions with the outside world over his expanding nuclear and missile programmes.

Critics say he may be trying to divide Seoul and Washington in a bid to weaken international pressure and sanctions on the North.

During the talks, the North Korean delegation said it would send an Olympic delegation, including officials, athletes, cheerleaders, journalists and others, South Korean vice unification minister Chun Hae-sung told reporters at the border village of Panmunjom, the venue of the talks.

North Korea is weak in winter sports and a pair of figure skaters, Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik, earlier became the only North Korean athletes to qualify for next month's Pyeongchang Games before the North missed a confirmation deadline.

The International Olympic Committee said it has "kept the door open" for North Korea to take part in the games.

Mr Chun, one of five South Korean negotiators, said the South proposed that Pyongyang send a big delegation and march with South Korean athletes during the February 9-25 Games' opening and closing ceremonies.

He said Seoul also suggested resuming temporary reunions of families separated by war and offered military talks designed to reduce animosities in frontline areas.

South Korea also stressed the need to denuclearise the Korean peninsula, Mr Chun said.

North Korea responded by saying the two Koreas must try to promote peace and reconciliation through dialogue, he said.

The two sides' chief delegates are meeting to discuss the wording of a joint statement, the media reports said.

The countries have a long history of failing to follow through with rapprochement accords.

In 2015, negotiators met for nearly 40 hours before announcing a deal to pull back from a military stand-off caused by land mine blasts that maimed two South Korean soldiers.

But animosities flared again several months later after the North's fourth nuclear test.

The meeting's venue, Panmunjom, is the only place on the tense border where North and South Korean soldiers are just yards away from each other.

A North Korean soldier in November defected to the South across Panmunjom amid a hail of bullets fired by his comrades. He was hit five times but survived.

Today's meeting began in an amicable atmosphere, with chief North Korean delegate Ri Son Gwon saying he hoped the talks would give "a new year's first gift - precious results to the Korean nation".

His South Korean counterpart, unification minister Cho Myoung-gyon, said he also hoped they would come up with a "good gift" for people in both Koreas.

Later today, Mr Chun said North Korea told the South Korean delegation that it had restored a military hotline with the South, in the second reopening of a suspended inter-Korean communication channel in about a week.

All major inter-Korean communication channels had been shut down amid animosities over the North's nuclear programme in recent years, but Pyongyang reopened one of the channels last week as signs emerged of improving ties. </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
• 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> SEOUL, South Korea — The rival Koreas moved toward reducing their bitter animosity Tuesday during rare talks, with North Korea agreeing to take part in next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea. The countries also agreed to hold more discussions on easing tension along their border and to reopen a military hotline.

The first meeting of its kind between the nations in about two years was arranged after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made an abrupt push for improved ties with South Korea following a year of escalating tensions with the outside world over his expanding nuclear and missile programs. Critics say Kim may be trying to divide Seoul and Washington in a bid to weaken international pressure and sanctions on the North.

In comments that appeared to back up those critical views, chief North Korean delegate Ri Son Gwon said his country’s nuclear weapons are aimed at the United States, not South Korea. He made the comments while complaining about what he called inaccurate South Korean media reports that he said Tuesday’s talks dealt with North Korea’s nuclear disarmament.

“All our state-of-the-art strategic weapons like atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs and intercontinental ballistic rockets are completely targeting the United States. They are not targeting our compatriots” in the South, Ri said, according to media footage from the border village of Panmunjom, where the talks were held.

Despite Ri’s comments, the agreements were still seen to be a positive move. Chief South Korean delegate Cho Myoung-gyon described the accords as a “first step toward the development of South-North relations” when he briefed reporters about the meeting.

Ri read what he called a joint statement after the talks, under which the two Koreas agreed to “actively cooperate” in the Olympics to “enhance the prestige of the Korean people.”

He said North Korea will send a delegation of officials, athletes, cheerleaders and journalists to the Feb. 9-25 games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

South Korea will provide necessary services to the North Korean delegation, Ri said, adding that the two countries will hold follow-up working-level talks on Olympic cooperation.

“I see North Korea’s participation in the Pyeongchang Games will provide us with a chance to reduce tension on the Korean Peninsula,” said Cho, whose official title is unification minister.

North Korea is not a winter sports power, and two of its figure skaters, Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik, earlier became the only North Korean athletes to qualify for the games before the North missed a confirmation deadline. The International Olympic Committee said Monday it has “kept the door open” for North Korea to take part in the games.

Sports ties between the two countries mirror their rocky political relationship.

During an earlier era of inter-Korean detente, athletes from the North and South paraded together at international sports events such as the Olympics and fielded a unified Korean team. The government of current South Korean President Moon Jae-had wanted the two Koreas to agree to similar reconciliatory steps in Pyeongchang.

North Korea boycotted the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Summer Olympics, both held in Seoul, amid Cold War rivalry. One year before the 1988 Games, a South Korean passenger plane exploded, killing all 115 people aboard, and a captured North Korean agent told South Korean investigators that she bombed the jetliner at the order of North Korean leaders who wanted to disrupt the Seoul Olympics.

In another key accord Tuesday, North Korea also agreed to hold military talks aimed at reducing animosity along the border and restore a military hotline communication channel with South Korea, according to Cho.

The restoration of the hotline was the second in kind in about a week. All major inter-Korean communication channels had been shut down over the North’s nuclear program in recent years. But North Korea reopened one channel last week as signs emerged of improving ties.

Cho said South Korea also called for talks at an early date to discuss denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula to promote peace. He said the two Koreas would continue high-level talks but didn’t give a date for the next meeting.

Earlier Tuesday, South Korean officials said they also suggested resuming temporary reunions of families separated by war, but the joint statement didn’t mention this.

The countries have a long history of failing to follow through with rapprochement accords. In 2015, negotiators met for nearly 40 hours before announcing a deal to pull back from a military standoff caused by land mine blasts that maimed two South Korean soldiers. But animosities flared again several months later after the North’s fourth nuclear test.

The meeting’s venue, Panmunjom, is the only place on the border where North and South Korean soldiers are just meters (feet) away from each other. In November, a North Korean soldier defected to the South across Panmunjom amid gunfire from his comrades. He was hit five times but survived.

An agreement on the North’s Olympic participation had been widely expected before the talks, but the Koreas appeared to remain sharply at odds over how to improve their overall ties.

North Korea was expected to demand rewards in return for South Korea’s proposal of family reunions, such as a halt to South Korean propaganda broadcasts and a scaling back or halting of military drills with the U.S., observers say. But it wasn’t known if the North made such a demand.

Suspension of the military drills would be unacceptable for Seoul because it would seriously undermine its alliance with its chief ally, the United States, which wants to put more pressure on North Korea. The North views the drills as a rehearsal for an invasion.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday expressed hope for progress from the talks and said he was open to talking with Kim himself. But U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley later said Washington isn’t changing its conditions on talks with North Korea, saying Kim first needs to stop weapons testing for a “significant amount of time.”

In his New Year’s Day address, Kim said he was willing to send a delegation to the Pyeongchang Games. He urged Seoul to halt the military drills with the U.S. and said he has a “nuclear button” to launch missiles at any target in the United States. Moon welcomed Kim’s outreach and proposed the talks at Panmunjom.

Trump and Kim traded bellicose rhetoric and crude insults last year, as North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear detonation and three tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles. </s> North and South Korea on Tuesday began their first high-level talks in over two years to discuss Pyongyang’s participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics despite bilateral tensions, Reuters reported. The Winter Olympics are due in February in South Korea’s Pyeongchang County.

The two countries will also discuss ways to improve relations, said South Korea’s Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, who is leading Seoul’s delegation. Both sides have sent five-member delegations for the talks.

The discussions began at 10 am at the border truce village of Panmunjom. The two Koreas had last held formal talks in December 2015, and bilateral relations have been tense since then.

Ri Son-gwon, the chairman of the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, said the two countries would “engage in talks in a serious and sincere stance”, and that the dialogue would “go well”.

“We came to this meeting today with the thought of giving our brethren, who have high hopes for this dialogue, invaluable results as the first present of the year,” he was quoted as saying.

In his New Year’s address, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said he was willing to send a delegation to South Korea for the Winter Olympics. On January 3, South Korea proposed holding the high-level talks after North Korea reopened a communication channel with the South that it had closed down almost two years ago. </s> The two countries, who are technically still at war having only signed an armistice after the Korean War, could even compete as a single nation in next month’s Games. Lee Hee-beom, the Winter Olympics organising chief, previously raised the possibility of the two Koreas forming unified teams in figure skating and ice hockey for the Games to be held in the mountain village of Pyeongchang, just 50 miles (80km) from the inter-Korean border. The two Koreas have competed as a single nation in sports events before, including football and table tennis matches, but have never joined forces for a major event such as the Olympics or the Asian Games. The countries even marched together at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 after North and South Korea held their first ever summit, but relations have since soured.

However, Lee, president of the Pyeongchang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, is optimistically proposing the countries join forces for this years event. He has even proposed North Korean athletes enter the south by crossing the heavily armed border between the two countries, which is widely considered one of the most dangerous divides in the world. That would be the first time that North Korean athletes would arrive the South by road, the organiser said. North Korea has not responded to Lee's proposals. North Korea participated in the international multi-sports events hosted by South Korea three times - in 2002, 2003 and 2014.

The news comes after South Korea confirmed communication with North Korea has reopened in what could be the start of a new chapter in the fraught relationship between the two neighbours. The South's Unification Ministry said the two Koreas were communicating via a radio channel at the border village of Panmunjom on Wednesday after Kim Jong-un shocked the world by saying he was “open to dialogue" with Seoul and hoped to send a team to the Winter Olympics, set to be held in Pyeongchang next month. High-level talks have not been held between the two nations since December 2015 after North Korea cut off the communications channel and refused to answer calls, according to officials in Seoul.

South Korea reportedly tries to make contact with the North at least once a day. The North Korean leader began the new year by suggesting he was willing to work to bring an end the tensions on the Korean peninsula and open a dialogue with South Korea. He said: “The Winter Olympic games that will be held soon in the South will be a good opportunity to display the status of the Korean nation and we sincerely wish that the event will be held with good results.” </s> The head of North Korean delegation Ri Son Gwon, center, is greeted by South Korean officials after he crosses the border line to attend their meeting at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone in Paju, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. North Korea agreed Tuesday to send a delegation to next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea, Seoul officials said, as the bitter rivals sat for rare talks at the border to discuss how to cooperate in the Olympics and improve their long-strained ties. (Korea Pool via AP)

The rival Koreas took steps toward reducing their bitter animosity during rare talks Tuesday, as North Korea agreed to send a delegation to next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea, hold talks on lowering tension along their border and reopen a military hotline.

The meeting, the first of its kind in about two years, was arranged after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made an abrupt push for improved ties with South Korea following a year of elevated tensions with the outside world over his expanding nuclear and missile programs. Critics say Kim may be trying to divide Seoul and Washington in a bid to weaken international pressure and sanctions on the North.

“I think we took an important first step toward the development of South-North relations,” chief South Korean delegate Cho Myoung-gyon said after the talks, according to media footage from the border village of Panmunjom, the venue.

Cho’s North Korean counterpart, Ri Son Gwon, read a joint statement in which the two Koreas agreed to “actively co-operate” in the Pyeongchang Olympics to “enhance the prestige of the Korean people.”

He said North Korea will send a delegation of officials, athletes, cheerleaders and journalists and South Korea will provide necessary services for the delegation.

“I believe that North Korea’s participation in the Pyeongchang Games will provide us with a chance to reduce tension on the Korean Peninsula,” said Cho, whose official title is unification minister.

During an earlier era of inter-Korean detente, athletes from the two Koreas paraded together at international sports events such as the Olympics and fielded a unified Korean team. The government of current South Korean President Moon Jae-in wants the two Koreas to agree to similar reconciliatory steps at the Feb. 9-25 Pyeongchang Games.

North Korea is weak in winter sports and a pair of figure skaters, Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik, earlier became the only North Korean athletes to qualify for the Pyeongchang Games before the North missed a confirmation deadline. The International Olympic Committee said Monday it has “kept the door open” for North Korea to take part in the games.

North Korea also agreed to hold military talks with South Korea aimed at reducing animosity along their tense border and to restore a military hotline communication channel, according to Cho and Ri.

The restoration of the hotline was the second in about a week. All major inter-Korean communication channels had been shut down amid animosity over the North’s nuclear program in recent years.

Related: North Korea warns U.S. of its nuclear force

Cho said South Korea also called for talks at an early date on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula to promote peace. He said the two Koreas would continue high-level talks but didn’t say when the next meeting would take place.

South Korean officials earlier said they also suggested resuming temporary reunions of families separated by war. But the joint statement didn’t mention such reunions.

The countries have a long history of failing to follow through with rapprochement accords. In 2015, negotiators met for nearly 40 hours before announcing a deal to pull back from a military standoff caused by land mine blasts that maimed two South Korean soldiers. But animosities flared again several months later after the North’s fourth nuclear test.

The meeting’s venue, Panmunjom, is the only place on the tense border where North and South Korean soldiers are just meters (feet) away from each other. A North Korean soldier in November defected to the South across Panmunjom amid a hail of bullets fired by his comrades. He was hit five times but survived.

An agreement on the North’s Olympic participation had been widely expected before the talks began, but the Koreas appeared to remain sharply at odds over how to improve their overall ties.

North Korea was expected to demand rewards in return for South Korea’s proposal of family reunions, such as a halt to South Korean propaganda broadcasts and a scaling back or halting of military drills with the U.S. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the North made such a demand.

Suspension of the military drills would be unacceptable for Seoul because it would seriously undermine its alliance with its chief ally, the United States, which wants to put more pressure on North Korea. The North views the drills as a rehearsal for an invasion.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday expressed hope for some progress from the talks and said he was open to talking with Kim himself. But U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley later said the U.S. administration isn’t changing its conditions regarding talks with North Korea, saying Kim first needs to stop weapons testing for a “significant amount of time.”

In his New Year’s Day address, Kim said he was willing to send a delegation to the Pyeongchang Games. He urged Seoul to halt the military drills with the U.S. and said he has a “nuclear button” to launch missiles at any target in the United States. Moon welcomed Kim’s outreach and proposed the talks at Panmunjom.

Related: N. Korea fires missile it says is ‘significantly more’ powerful

Trump and Kim traded bellicose rhetoric and crude insults last year, as North Korea conducted it sixth and most powerful nuclear detonation and three tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. </s> SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The rival Koreas took steps toward reducing their bitter animosity during rare talks Tuesday, as North Korea agreed to send a delegation to next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea and reopen a military hotline.

The meeting, the first of its kind in about two years, was arranged after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made an abrupt push for improved ties with South Korea following a year of elevated tensions with the outside world over his expanding nuclear and missile programs. Critics say Kim may be trying to divide Seoul and Washington in a bid to weaken international pressure and sanctions on the North.

During the talks, the North Korean delegation said it would send an Olympic delegation, including officials, athletes, cheerleaders, journalists and others, South Korean Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung told reporters, according to media footage from the border village of Panmunjom, the venue of the talks.

North Korea is weak in winter sports and a pair of figure skaters, Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik, earlier became the only North Korean athletes to qualify for next month’s Pyeongchang Games before the North missed a confirmation deadline. The International Olympic Committee said Monday it has “kept the door open” for North Korea to take part in the games.

Chun, one of five South Korean negotiators, said the South proposed that North Korea send a big delegation and march with South Korean athletes during the Feb. 9-25 games’ opening and closing ceremonies.

He said South Korea also suggested resuming temporary reunions of families separated by war and offered military talks designed to reduce animosities in front-line areas. South Korea also stressed the need to achieve denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Chun said.

North Korea responded by saying the two Koreas must try to promote peace and reconciliation through dialogue, he said.

The two sides’ chief delegates were meeting Tuesday evening to discuss the wording of a joint statement, the media reports said, but it wasn’t immediately known when the talks would end. Past inter-Korean talks have often continued until late at night.

The countries have a long history of failing to follow through with rapprochement accords. In 2015, negotiators met for nearly 40 hours before announcing a deal to pull back from a military standoff caused by land mine blasts that maimed two South Korean soldiers. But animosities flared again several months later after the North’s fourth nuclear test.

The meeting’s venue, Panmunjom, is the only place on the tense border where North and South Korean soldiers are just meters (feet) away from each other. A North Korean soldier in November defected to the South across Panmunjom amid a hail of bullets fired by his comrades. He was hit five times but survived.

Tuesday’s meeting began in an amicable atmosphere, with chief North Korean delegate Ri Son Gwon saying he hoped the talks would give “a New Year’s first gift — precious results to the Korean nation.” Ri’s South Korean counterpart, Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, said he also hoped they would come up with a “good gift” for people in both Koreas.

Later Tuesday, Chun said North Korea told the South Korean delegation that it restored a military hotline with the South, in the second reopening of a suspended inter-Korean communication channel in about a week.

All major inter-Korean communication channels had been shut down amid animosities over the North’s nuclear program in recent years. But North Korea reopened one of the channels last week as signs emerged of improving ties.

An agreement on the North’s Olympic participation had been widely expected before the talks began, but the Koreas remain sharply at odds over how to improve their overall ties.

North Korea is expected to demand rewards in return for South Korea’s proposal of family reunions and military talks, such as a halt to South Korean propaganda broadcasts and a scaling back or halting of military drills with the U.S., observers say.

Suspension of the military drills would be unacceptable for Seoul because it would seriously undermine its alliance with its chief ally, the United States, which wants to put more pressure on North Korea. The North views the drills as a rehearsal for an invasion.

During an earlier era of inter-Korean detente, athletes from the two Koreas paraded together at international sports events such as the Olympics and fielded a unified Korean team. The government of current South Korean President Moon Jae-in wants the two Koreas to agree to similar reconciliatory steps at the Pyeongchang Games.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday expressed hope for some progress from the talks and said he was open to talking with Kim himself. But U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley later said the U.S. administration isn’t changing its conditions regarding talks with North Korea, saying Kim first needs to stop weapons testing for a “significant amount of time.”

In his New Year’s Day address, Kim said he was willing to send a delegation to the Pyeongchang Games. He urged Seoul to halt the military drills with the U.S. and said he has a “nuclear button” to launch missiles at any target in the United States. Moon welcomed Kim’s outreach and proposed the talks at Panmunjom.

Trump and Kim traded bellicose rhetoric and crude insults last year, as North Korea conducted it sixth and most powerful nuclear detonation and three tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
In the first inter-Korean talks in two years at the Panmunjeom-Paju "Truce Village" (DMZ), both parties agree on the need to ease tensions and hold military talks. North Korea also agrees to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.