North Korea agrees to first talks with South in two years

Source: The Guardian

North Korea has agreed to South Korea’s offer to hold talks next week, in what will be the first high-level contact between the two countries for more than two years.

The talks – the first since December 2015 – will take place in Panmunjom, a village that straddles the demilitarised zone (DMZ) between the two countries and come amid international concern over Pyongyang’s ballistic missile and nuclear programmes.

The discussions, to be held at the Peace House on the South Korean side of Panmunjom, will initially focus on North Korea’s possible participation in next month’s Winter Olympics in the South Korean town of Pyeongchang.

But officials - whose identities have yet to be confirmed - will also talk about how to improve overall ties after a year in which North Korea has raised tensions in the region with a series of missile launches and its sixth – and most powerful – nuclear test.

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Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Fri 5 Jan ‘18 03.30 GMT


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/05/north-korea-talks-south-olympics