North Korea to send delegation to Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, says South amid talks
The Koreas to continue first talks in two years in demilitarised zone at Panmunjeom as North gives go ahead for its participation in Games
North Korea agreed on 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.
The Koreas’ first talks in two years were arranged after North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un recently made an abrupt push for improved ties with South Korea after a year of elevated tensions with the outside world over his expanding nuclear and missile programmes.
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, which includes officials, athletes, cheerleaders, journalists and others, South Korea’s Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung told reporters, according to media footage from the border village of Panmunjeom, the venue for the talks.
The South Korean delegation, for its part, proposed North Korea send a big delegation and conduct a joint march during the February 9-25 Games’ opening and closing ceremonies, Chun, one of the five South Korean negotiators, said.