Top general says N. Korea is willing to hold talks with US
Seoul, Feb. 25: A blacklisted North Korean general and the daughter of US President Donald Trump attended the Winter Olympics closing ceremony together Sunday, in the final piece of the Games- led diplomacy that has dominated headlines from Pyeongchang.
Brief footage of the VIP enclosure at the arena showed South Korean President Moon Jae- in shaking hands first with Mr Trump’s daughter Ivanka, and soon afterwards with North Korean General Kim Yong Chol — who reportedly expressed willingness to talk to Washington.
A senior US administration official said there was no interaction between Ivanka, who was placed next to Mr Moon’s wife, and Mr Kim, who was in the row behind her — just two seats away from US General Vincent Brooks, who commands Washington’s forces in the South.
North Korea is “very willing” to hold talks with the US, its delegation to the Winter Olympics closing ceremony said, according to Seoul’s presidential Blue House.
Pyongyang has frequently said it is willing to talk without preconditions, but Washington says it must first take concrete steps towards denuclearisation.
Seoul, Feb. 25: North Korea is “very willing” to hold talks with the United States, its delegation to the Winter Olympics closing ceremony said on Sunday, according to Seoul’s presidential Blue House.
In a meeting with the South’s President Moon Jae- in, the North’s delegation “agreed that interKorea talks and North- US relations should improve together”, the Blue House said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the two Koreas marched behind their own flags as the curtain fell Sunday on two weeks of competition against a backdrop of diplomatic manoeuvring at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
At a colourful and cold ceremony, Ivanka Trump, daughter of US president Donald Trump, sat near to a blacklisted North Korean general and Russian competitors trooped in without their banned flag.
Unlike the Games’ opening, the North and South Korean athletes marched separately and waving their national flags, although some North Koreans held the blue- andwhite Korean Unification emblem. As the show got underway, South Korea’s presidential Blue House relayed that Chol’s delegation had said North Korea was “very willing” to hold talks with America.