BREAKTHROUGH?

North Korea to Send Delegation to Pyeongchang Olympics

As delegates from Seoul and Pyongyang meet for the first time in more than two years.

North Korea has said it will send its athletes and a high-level delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang next month after the two rival Koreas held their first official talks in more than two years, Bloomberg reports. During a sit-down between the two sides in the truce village of Panmunjom on Tuesday, North Korean officials said they’d like to improve ties with the South through further dialogue. “I think we should be engaged in these talks with an earnest, sincere manner to give a New Year’s first gift—precious results [of the talks] to the Korean nation,” North Korea’s top delegate, Ri Son Gwon, said at the meeting. South Korean officials said they’d like to first tackle cooperation with North Korea in the upcoming Olympics before later getting to the more sensitive political and military issues. But as a sign of easing tensions, delegates from Seoul proposed that both nations march together at the Games in Pyeongchang, according to Bloomberg. The apparent breakthrough between the two sides comes as tensions continue between the U.S. and North Korea, with a recent report suggesting U.S. officials are considering the possibility of carrying out limited strikes on North Korea.