Ice breaks! North Korea accepts Seoul’s Olympics talk offer
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Pyongyang, January 5: North Korea finally accepts South Korean offer to host talks in next week. Following North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s proposal to send a delegation to Winter Olympics, Seoul proposed a high-level government meeting with North Korea on January 9 at the truce village of Panmunjom. The meeting will focus on finding a way for North Korean athletes to attend the Winter Olympic Games in next month.
"The two sides decided to discuss working-level issues by exchanging documents," Baik Tae-hyun, a top South Korean official said. Along with the topic of Olympic co-operation, main agenda items will include how to improve strained inter-Korean tie.
The talk will be hosted in so-called peace village where two sides usually held talks. After 2015, this will be the first time the two Koreas will be hosting a diplomatic talk. Till now, it is not clear who will be attending the talks.
The US has been skeptic since the starting and believes talks between South and North Korea would be limited to discussing the upcoming Winter Olympics, not the nuclear weapons program of North Korea. "Our understanding is that these talks will be limited. These talks will be limited to conversations about the Olympics and perhaps some other domestic matters ... not beyond that," US State Department spokesman said.