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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>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>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>Seoul, South Korea (CNN) North Korea has agreed to send a delegation to next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea and to hold talks with Seoul to ease military tensions, in the most significant thaw in relations between the neighboring states in years.

Officials from the two nations met face to face on Tuesday for the first time in more than two years in the border town of Panmunjom, known as "truce village," in the Korean peninsula's heavily fortified demilitarized zone.

North Korea will send a high-level delegation comprising athletes, a cheering squad, an art troupe, a visitors' group, a Taekwondo demonstration team and a press corps, a closing joint statement said.

The two countries also announced military talks "to ease the current military tensions" following a year of hostilities over North Korea's missile and nuclear testing in the region and US-South Korea joint military drills over the peninsula.

"South and North Korea have decided to make joint efforts for the unity of the people and reconciliation by establishing an environment for peace and easing military tensions on the Korean Peninsula," the statement read.

The talks make official the sentiments from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who in a New Year's Day address said he wanted his country to compete in the Olympics. His statement was seen as an olive branch after a year of aggression, as Kim oversaw significant advancements in Pyongyang's nuclear and long-range missile technologies.

But it was not all harmony on Tuesday. North Korea's chief negotiator, Ri Son Gwon, expressed strong discontent over South Korean claims to the media that denuclearization was discussed on Tuesday and could be part of military talks. He at the same time issued a threat to the US.

"Speaking of the nuclear issue, all state-of art-strategic weapons, including atomic and hydrogen bombs, ICBMs, rockets, are entirely targeting the US. It is not targeting our own people. It is not targeting China and Russia as well," Ri said. ICBMs refer to intercontinental ballistic missiles.

South Korean Unification Vice Minister Chun Hae-sung also said earlier there was a need to promptly resume dialogue on a peace settlement, which should include denuclearization.

Ri also criticized Chun for announcing plans to re-open a military hotline between the countries. He claimed that decision had been made on Wednesday last week and were not a result of Tuesday's talks.

The hotline was one of many shut down as inter-Korean relations soured.

Tuesday's meeting at Peace House in the Joint Security Area, also known as Panmunjom, began awkwardly with small talk about the weather -- a sign that any restoration of relations was not going to be quick.

"Entire rivers and mountains are frozen," Ri, the North Korean negotiator, told reporters. "It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that compared to nature's weather, the inter-Korean relationship is even more frozen."

The five-member North Korean delegation, dressed in fitted dark suits and polished dress shoes, arrived at the border via motorcade shortly before 9:30 a.m. Seoul time, and then made the short walk across the military demarcation line into the South Korean side of Panmunjom.

South Korean negotiators floated organizing another round of reunifications for families separated during the Korean War -- which is technically still ongoing, as no formal peace treaty has been signed.

Both North Korea's Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in were able to listen to the discussions in real time, and each had a hotline at their disposal direct to the Peace House.

John Delury, a professor at Yonsei University's Graduate School of International Relations in Seoul, said military talks and reunifications were presented to the North Koreans last year, but no headway was made.

"South Korea has been working at this for a long time," he said. "Seoul already proposed those things: Let's get our militaries talking and let's reunite families. Technically, North Korea really never said no."

China, Russia and Japan all welcomed the talks in public statements. The three countries were part of the now-defunct, six-party talks in the 2000s, a failed diplomatic effort to end North Korea's nuclear program.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) welcomed the agreements between North and South Korea on Tuesday, and said it would discuss the details before making an official decision on the country's participation.

"These proposals mark a great step forward in the Olympic spirit," IOC President Thomas Bach said.

The IOC is waiting for official reports from the meeting and will then discuss issues such as the number and names of athletes who might be eligible to take part. The IOC has been very open to the idea, having extended a deadline to participate for the Games after North Korea indicated it wanted to join.

To date, the only North Koreans to qualify for the Pyeongchang Games are the figure skating pair of Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik. However, the North Korean National Olympic Committee did not meet an October 30 deadline to accept their spot.

Speaking to CNN, Duyeon Kim, a visiting fellow at the Korean Peninsula Future Forum, warned that Pyongyang might try to extract as many concessions as possible in return for its participation at the Olympics.

"Under the table or upfront. In the past the South has had to pay a certain amount, there has always been a price tag for the North's participation," she said.

Despite climate and terrain favorable for participating in cold-weather sports, North Korea hasn't sent a delegation the Winter Olympics since 1992 (the Winter and Summer Games were hosted in the same year until 1994).

Pyongyang boycotted the 1988 summer Games in Seoul after efforts to jointly host the event with the South collapsed. North Korea, along with a handful of other allies of the USSR, also boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in response to the US boycott of the 1980 Olympics.</s>North and South Korea exchange five phone calls in just two days as communication lines open.

North and South Korea exchange five phone calls in just two days as communication lines open.

South Korean media say North and South Korea have begun talks at their border about how to cooperate in next month's Winter Olympics and how to improve their long-strained ties.

South Korean media say North and South Korea have begun talks at their border about how to cooperate in next month's Winter Olympics and how to improve their long-strained ties.

The venue for high-profile talks between North and South Korea is a potential flash point inside the world's most heavily fortified border.

The venue for high-profile talks between North and South Korea is a potential flash point inside the world's most heavily fortified border.

(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File). In this June 23, 2017, file photo, North Korean taekwondo demonstration team members and other officials arrive at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, South Korea.

(AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File). In this Sept. 19, 2014, file photo. athletes from North Korea march into the stadium during the opening ceremony for the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. North Korea attended the Asian Games.

(Yonhap via AP, File). In this Sept. 20, 1986, file photo, an opening ceremony for the Asian Games is held at Olympic stadium in Seoul, South Korea. North Korea boycotted the games.

(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File). In this Jan. 1, 2018, file photo, South Koreans watch a TV news program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's New Year's speech, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The rival Koreas moved toward easing 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 reducing 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.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert welcomed the inter-Korean meeting which she said was "aimed at ensuring a safe, secure and successful" Olympics. The U.S. said it was consulting with South Korean officials to ensure that North Korea's participation in the games does not violate U.N. sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons.

North Korea's participation in the Winter Olympics won't affect U.S. participation in the games, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, adding that the decision presents North Korea with an opportunity to see the value of ending its isolation from the rest of the world.

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-in 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 to restore a military hotline communication channel with South Korea, according to Cho.

The restoration of the hotline was the second such move in 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.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</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.</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>Much of the lead-up to the 2018 Winter Olympics has centered on potential problems in PyeongChang, from "stagnant" ticket sales and "very low" interest from traveling fans to Russia's controversial absence and a watered-down talent pool for hockey competition.

South Korea, however, unveiled some promising news, at least from its own perspective, when it said this week that neighboring North Korea has decided it will send a delegation "of athletes, high-ranking officials and a cheer squad" to the 2018 Winter Games. That's according to Reuters and the Associated Press, which awaited word from North Korea's "first formal talks with South Korea in more than two years."

South Korea had been campaigning for its infamous peninsula partner to attend the Winter Olympics in an apparent effort to reconcile differences, or at least calm concerns regarding the North's international disputes over missile launches and nuclear weapons. At this week's meetings between the two sovereign states, per Reuters, "Seoul proposed inter-Korean military discussions to reduce tensions" and "said it was prepared to lift some sanctions temporarily to facilitate" North Korea's visit to PyeongChang.

As part of the talks, which CBS News said lasted more than three hours, South Korea also suggested that athletes from both states march alongside each other at the PyeongChang opening ceremony. A unified march has not occurred with both North and South Korea since China's Asian Winter Games in 2007, Reuters' Josh Smith and Christine Kim noted, although it remains to be seen just what North Korea's planned participation means for the rest of the Olympics.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, for example, said less than a week ago that he "fully" believes Team USA will skip the Winter Games if North Korea attends. The United States did, however, recently agree to pause joint military drills in South Korea in order to promote a "safe and successful" competition in February.</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>* Family reunions, easing military tension may also be on table

SEOUL, Jan 9 (Reuters) - North and South Korea will hold their first formal talks for more than two years on Tuesday, brought together by sport to discuss how the North’s athletes can attend next month’s Winter Olympics in the South despite simmering fears of conflict.

Regardless of its narrow, primarily sporting agenda, the meeting will be closely watched by world leaders eager for any sign of a reduction in tensions on the Korean peninsula amid rising fears over North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

“The talks will focus on North Korea’s participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and our preparations have centred around some requests made by the North for a peaceful Olympic Games,” Unification Ministry spokesman Baek Tae-hyun told a media conference on Monday.

Some South Korean officials are hoping the two Koreas may even march under a single flag at a sports opening ceremony for the first time in more than a decade.

Five senior officials from each side will meet at the three-storey Peace House on the South Korean side of the Panmunjom truce village, with talks to begin at 10 a.m. (0100 GMT).

As previously, cameras and microphones will be placed in the room to ensure that officials from both sides can monitor the talks as they happen.

The United States, which has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War, initially responded coolly to the idea of inter-Korean meetings.

The State Department had said Pyongyang “might be trying to drive a wedge” between Washington and Seoul.

U.S. President Donald Trump spent much of the past year deriding negotiations as useless and lobbing insults at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

But on Thursday, Trump called the new talks “a good thing” and said they had been prompted by his “firm, strong” stance, which has included harsher international sanctions and threats of military intervention if the North does not give up its weapons program.

On Saturday, Trump said he was “100 percent” behind the talks and hoped for positive developments. He also said he would “absolutely” be willing to talk on the phone to Kim.

“Look, right now they’re talking Olympics. It’s a start, it’s big start,” he said. “If something can happen and something come out of those talks, that would be a great thing for all of humanity, that would be a great thing for the world,” he said.

Trump said he would like to see talks go beyond the Olympics and added: “At the appropriate time, we’ll get involved.”

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in persuaded the United States to delay joint military exercises until after the Olympics in a bid to reduce tensions and possibly create room for diplomacy.

The talks come after North Korea’s Kim used his New Year’s Day speech to announce he was open to sending a delegation to the Olympics as well as generally reducing tensions on the Korean peninsula, while vowing to never give up his nuclear weapons program.

The Trump administration has said that any future talks between the United States and North Korea must be aimed at denuclearization.

Baek said other issues aimed at boosting cooperation between the two Koreas will be discussed.

Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon has said his delegation has been preparing to discuss resuming reunions of family members separated by the Korean War. That conflict ended in a ceasefire and technically the two sides remain at war.

North Korea’s delegation will be led by Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland. Committee vice chairman Jon Song Su and Hwang Chung Song, a director, will join Ri.

Ri, the committee chairman who was promoted to his current position in June 2016, is a seasoned negotiator for inter-Korean talks although his previous experience has mostly been military-related due to his career in the armed forces. (Additional reporting by Josh Smith in SEOUL and David Brunnstrom, Jim Oliphant and Steve Holland in WASHINGTON; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
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.