[Yonhap Photo]
SEOUL, Jan. 05 (Aju News) -- North Korea agreed to hold high-level talks next week on its participation in the Winter Olympics in South Korea and other issues aimed at seeking a breakthrough in frozen cross-border relations, officials said Friday.
In a message sent through a restored hotline in the border truce village of Panmunjom, the North said it would participate in high-level talks next Tuesday, according to the South's unification ministry.
The message was sent by Ri Son-gwon, who heads the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, a North Korean state body in charge of cross-border relations, to Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon.
To save time, the two sides will discuss technical issues for the meeting by exchanging written documents through the hotline, unification ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told reporters, adding the agenda would include the dispatch of a North Korean Winter Olympic delegation and ways to improve cross-border relations.
There will be separate talks with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) if the two Koreas reach agreement, the spokesman said, adding the North is expected to hold consultations with the IOC next week.
The North's message came after U.S. and South Korean leaders agreed on a temporary halt to regular joint military exercises during next month's Winter Olympics.
In a telephone conversation on Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed President Moon Jae-in's proposal to stop any joint military drills between the allies in February if there are no more North Korean provocations.
There are about 28,000 US troops stationed in South Korea. Extra US military assets and personnel come from abroad for regular joint drills that Washington and Seoul insist are purely defensive in nature, but which Pyongyang condemns as provocative rehearsals for an attack on the North.
Moon said the resumption of inter-Korean talks would help create an atmosphere for dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang on resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. Trump promised to send a high-level delegation, including his family, saying resumed inter-Korean dialogue was a "good thing".
North Korea reopened the hotline on Wednesday, fueling expectations that the two Koreas may put their stalled dialogue back on track. The hotline in Panmunjom in the middle of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), which bisects the Korean peninsula, has been used for inter-Korean contact and exchanges for decades.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
