South Korea offers high-level talks with North Korea to discuss Olympics

South Korea on Tuesday offered to hold high-level talks with North Korea, one day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un extended his country’s bitter rival a rare olive branch during his New Year’s address. Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon proposed that the two sides meet in the village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone on […]

South Korea on Tuesday offered to hold high-level talks with North Korea, one day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un extended his country’s bitter rival a rare olive branch during his New Year’s address.

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon proposed that the two sides meet in the village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone on January 9 to discuss North Korea’s participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

If the talks take place, they will be the first meeting between the two governments in more than two years.

Kim on Monday signalled a willingness to hold talks with South Korea and send a delegation to the Games in February.

"The Winter Games to be held in South Korea will be a good occasion for the country. We sincerely hope that the Winter Olympics will be a success," Yonhap reported Kim as saying.

"We are ready to take various steps, including the dispatch of the delegation. To this end, the two Koreas can immediately meet," he added.

South Korea reacted to his proposal with a call for diplomacy and dialogue.

The South Korean government said Monday it "hopes that South and North Korea can peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear issue together in close cooperation with the international community."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the exchange between Seoul and Pyongyang was "a good thing."

"China welcomes and supports that both North Korea and South Korea take this as an opportunity to make effective efforts to improve their mutual relations and promote the relaxation of the situation on the peninsula and the denuclearization of the peninsula," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

Tensions escalated on the Korean peninsula over the course of 2017 as North Korea forged ahead with developing its missiles and nuclear weapons.

In December, the United Nations responded with its harshest sanctions yet against Pyongyang after the rogue state launched an intercontinental ballistic missile which it claims can reach the US mainland. (DPA)