Koreas: Tension Eased ahead of Winter Olympics
Local Editor
All eyes are on the two Koreas as the approaching Winter Olympics provides a perfect opportunity for the two unfriendly neighbors to engage in some fence mending.
Preliminary reports suggested that North Korea said it will send a delegation of high-ranking officials, athletes, and a cheering squad to the Pyeongchang games in the South next month.
Representatives from the two Koreas began direct talks on Tuesday, in the first instance of face-to-face dialog in more than two years.
The fresh talks were being held behind closed doors at the Peace House in the Joint Security Area in the truce village of Panmunjom, at the demilitarized zone [DMZ] between the divided countries.
Shortly after the talks began, media reports quoted South Korea's vice unification minister, Chun Hae-sung, as saying that Pyongyang had said it would allow South Korean athletes, a cheering squad, and high-ranking officials to attend the upcoming Winter Olympics.
Chun said Seoul proposed that the two sides hold inter-Korean talks on how to reduce military tensions on the Korean Peninsula and the reunion of separated family members in time for the Lunar New Year holiday in February.
He did not provide specifics.
The two Koreas have long had strained ties. Tensions recently skyrocketed with repeated North Korean missile and nuclear tests and increased South Korean joint military action with the United States.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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