South Korea offers talks with North on Olympics

South Korea has offered high-level talks with North Korea to find ways to cooperate on next month’s Winter Olympics in the South.

Seoul’s quick proposal after a rare rapprochement overture from Pyongyang a day earlier offers the possibility of better ties after a year which saw a nuclear stand-off increase fear of war on the Korean Peninsula.

In a New Year address, North Korean leader Kim Jong Unsaid on Monday he is willing to send a delegation to the Olympics, though he also repeated nuclear threats against the United States.

Mr Kim’s overture was welcome news for the South Korean government led by liberal president Moon Jae-in, who favours dialogue to ease the North’s nuclear threats and wants to use the Olympics as a chance to improve interkorean ties.

In his address on Monday,mr kim warned the us he has a “nuclear button” on his office desk, adding that “the whole territory of the US is within range”.