South Korea offers talks with North ahead of Olympics

SEOUL, (Reuters) - South Korea yesterday offered talks with North Korea next week amid a standoff over its weapons programmes, a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was open to negotiations but that his country would push ahead with “mass producing” nuclear warheads.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has led a global drive to pressure North Korea to give up development of nuclear-tipped missiles capable of hitting the United States, held back judgment on Pyongyang’s offer to talk, saying: “Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not - we will see!”

The offer for high-level talks next Tuesday had been discussed with the United States, South Korea’s Unification Minister Cho Myonggyon said, while a decision on whether to push back massive joint military drills until after the Winter Olympics which South Korea hosts next month is pending.

Cho suggested the talks be held at the border village of Panmunjom and said they should be focused on North Korea’s participation at the Olympics, but other issues would likely arise, including the denuclearisation of North Korea.

“We look forward to candidly discussing interests from both sides face-to-face with North Korea along with the North’s participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics,” Cho told reporters.

“I repeat: The government is open to talking with North Korea, regardless of time, location and form.”

Should the talks be held, it would be the first such dialogue since a vice-ministerial meeting in December 2015.

Tension has been rising over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes, which it pursues in defiance of years of U.N. Security Council resolutions, with bellicose rhetoric coming from both Pyongyang and the White House. North Korea sees regular war drills between South Korea and the United

States as preparations for war.

But Kim said in a New Year’s Day speech he was “open to dialogue” with Seoul, and for North Korean athletes to possibly take part in the Winter Games, but he persistently declared North Korea a nuclear power.

The White House has yet to offer a detailed response to the speech, which analysts saw as an attempt to weaken the U.S.-South Korean alliance and the U.S. led campaign to raise pressure on Pyongyang through sanctions.