North and South Korea were set to hold rare talks at their tense border Tuesday to discuss how to cooperate in next month’s Winter Olympics in the South and improve their long-strained ties.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North and South Korea were set to hold rare talks at their tense border Tuesday to discuss how to cooperate in next month’s Winter Olympics in the South and improve their long-strained ties.
Senior South Korean officials left Seoul early in the morning for the meeting in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two countries.
The rival Koreas’ first formal talks in about two years came about as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un makes an apparent push for improved ties with the South after a year of elevated tension over his country’s nuclear and missile tests. Critics of the meeting say Kim may be trying to divide Seoul and Washington in a bid to weaken international pressure and sanctions over the tests.
In his New Year’s Day address, Kim said there is an urgent need to improve inter-Korean ties and that he is willing to send a delegation to the Feb. 9-25 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. He urged Seoul to halt its annual military drills with Washington, which he called a rehearsal for an invasion, and said he has a “nuclear button” to launch missiles at anywhere in the United States.
Moon, a liberal who favors dialogue as a way to defuse the North Korean nuclear standoff, welcomed Kim ’s outreach and proposed Tuesday’s talks at the border village of Panmunjom.
