North and South, face to face
South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon (left) exchanges documents Tuesday with Ri Son Gwon, head of a North Korean delegation, in Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone. In the first meeting of its kind between the two nations in about two years, North Korea agreed to take part in next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea. Ri also said his country’s nuclear arsenal is aimed at the United States, not South Korea.
SEOUL, South Korea — The rival Koreas moved toward easing relations Tuesday during rare talks, with North Korea agreeing to take part in next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea.
The countries also agreed to hold more discussions on reducing tension along their border and to reopen a military hotline.
Today, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he is open to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if certain conditions are met. “I think a certain level of success must be guaranteed,” Moon said.
The first meeting of its kind between the nations in about two years was held Tuesday, after Kim made an abrupt push for improved ties with South Korea after a year of escalating tensions with the outside world over his expanding nuclear and missile programs. Critics say Kim may be trying to divide Seoul and Washington in a bid to weaken international pressure and sanctions on the North.
In comments that appeared to back up those critical views, chief North Korean delegate Ri Son Gwon said his country’s nuclear weapons are aimed at the United States, not South Korea. He made the comments while complaining about what he called inaccurate South Korean media reports that said Tuesday’s talks dealt with North Korea’s nuclear disarmament.
“All our state-of-the-art strategic weapons like atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs and intercontinental ballistic rockets are completely targeting the United States. They are not targeting our compatriots” in the South, Ri said, according to media footage from the border village of Panmunjom, where the talks were held.
Despite Ri’s comments, the agreements were still seen to be a positive move. Chief South Korean delegate Cho Myoung-gyon described the agreements as a “first step toward the development of South-North relations” when he briefed reporters about the meeting.
Ri read what he called a joint statement after the talks, under which the two Koreas agreed to “actively cooperate” in the Olympics to “enhance the prestige of the Korean people.”
He said North Korea will send a delegation of officials, athletes, cheerleaders and journalists to the Feb. 9-25 games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
South Korea will provide necessary services to the North Korean delegation, Ri said, adding that the two countries will hold follow-up, working-level talks on Olympic cooperation.
“I see North Korea’s participation in the Pyeongchang Games will provide us with a chance to reduce tension on the Korean Peninsula,” said Cho, whose official title is unification minister.
U.S. State Department spokesman Heather Nauert welcomed the inter-Korean meeting, which she said was “aimed at ensuring a safe, secure and successful” Olympics. The U.S. said it is consulting with South Korean officials to ensure that North Korea’s participation in the games does not violate U.N. sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons.
North Korea is not a winter sports power, and two of its figure skaters, Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik, earlier became the only North Korean athletes to qualify for the games before the North missed a confirmation deadline. The International Olympic Committee said Monday that it has “kept the door open” for North Korea to take part in the games.
Sports ties between the two countries mirror their rocky political relationship.
During an earlier era of inter-Korean detente, athletes from the North and South paraded together at international sports events such as the Olympics and fielded a unified Korean team. Moon’s government had wanted the two Koreas to agree to similar reconciliatory steps in Pyeongchang.
North Korea boycotted the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Summer Olympics, both held in Seoul, amid Cold War rivalry. One year before the 1988 Games, a South Korean passenger plane exploded, killing all 115 people aboard, and a captured North Korean agent told South Korean investigators that she bombed the jetliner at the order of North Korean leaders who wanted to disrupt the Seoul Olympics.
In another key accord Tuesday, North Korea also agreed to hold military talks aimed at reducing animosity along the border and restore a military hotline channel with South Korea, according to Cho.
The restoration of the hotline was the second of its kind in about a week. All major inter-Korean communication channels had been shut down over the North’s nuclear program in recent years. But North Korea reopened one channel last week as signs emerged of improving ties.
Cho said South Korea also called for talks at an early date to discuss denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula to promote peace. He said the two Koreas would continue high-level talks but didn’t give a date for the next meeting.