KOREAS ARE GAME
North and South Korea will sit down for their first formal talks in more than two years next week to find ways to cooperate on the Winter Olympics in the South and to improve their strained relations, Seoul officials said Friday.
While a positive sign after last year’s threats of nuclear war, the Koreas have a long history of failing to move past their deep animosity toward one another.
The announcement came hours after the United States said it would delay annual military exercises with South Korea until after the Winter Olympics next month.
The White House said President Trump approved the postponement in consultation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Moon, a liberal, has been pushing to improve strained ties and restore stalled cooperation projects with North Ko- rea since his inauguration last May, though he joined US-led international efforts to apply more pressure and sanctions on the North.
The military exercises infuriate North Korea, which claims they are an invasion rehearsal, although South Korea and the United States have repeatedly said they are defensive in nature.
In his New Year’s address Monday, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un said he was willing to send a delegation to the Winter Olympics — but he also said he has a “nuclear button” on his desk to fire atomic weapons at the US.
On Friday morning, North Korea sent a message saying it would accept South Korea’s offer to meet at the border village of Panmunjom next Tuesday to discuss Olympic cooperation and how to improve overall ties, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry.
Panmunjom is where a North Korean soldier dashed across the border into the South in November. He is recovering after being shot five times by his former comrades.
Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said he expects the two Koreas will use a recently restored cross-border communication channel to try to determine who will head their respective delegations next week.
China’s foreign ministry applauded news of possible talks between the rival Koreas.
“We welcome the recent positive turn of events in the peninsular situation,” spokesman Geng Shuang said.