South Korea:

North Korea Accepts Offer of Talks

TEHRAN (defapress)- North Korea accepted Seoul's offer to hold talks next Tuesday to discuss Pyongyang's participation in the Winter Olympics and other matters of mutual interest, according to South Korea's Ministry of Unification.

News ID: 67942

Date: 06 January 2018 - 13:27

"The North has accepted our proposal to meet at Panmunjeom Peace House [Korean Demilitarized Zone] on January 9," the Spokesman said, according to Yonhap News.

"The two sides decided to discuss working-level issues by exchanging documents," and will focus on issues "related to the improvement of inter-Korean relations, including the PyeongChang Olympic Games," he added.

Pyongyang on Friday sent a statement to Seoul accepting the offer made on Tuesday to hold high-level negotiations on the border between the two Koreas. The discussions will cover possible North Korean participation at the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics as well as other issues of "mutual interest," South Korea's unification ministry Spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told a briefing.

The governments in Seoul and Pyongyang have technically been at war for nearly 70 years since the end of the Korean conflict divided the peninsula. But the warring nations exchanged messages for the first time in two years via a hotline on Wednesday.

A ‘hotline’ communication channel between the two administrations was reopened this week, having fallen silent in January 2016. It follows Kim’s New Year address, in which he announced that the two countries should “lower the military tensions on the Korean Peninsula to create a peaceful environment.”

North Korean leader had ordered to reopen contact channel between Pyongyang and Seoul to discuss issues related to the upcoming Olympic games in PyeongChang.

Pyongyang's statement came a day after Seoul proposed high-level discussions with the DPRK, following North Korean leader's New Year's address in which he had stressed he was willing to launch a dialogue with South Korea.

North Korean leader said in his New Year’s Day address that Pyongyang was ready to send its athletes to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and expressed readiness to start talks with Seoul on the issue.

Seoul has proposed, in turn, holding high-level talks on January 9 in Panmunjom Village in the demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea.

The 2018 Winter Olympic Games will take place in PyeongChang and two nearby cities, Gangneung and Jeongseon, in South Korea from February 9 to February 25. The South Korean resort city is located just 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the border with North Korea.