North Korea on Monday proposed holding working-level talks with South Korea this week to discuss the North's participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
The North proposed to the South that the two sides meet Wednesday on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom, according to Seoul's unification ministry.
The North will send its three-member delegation led by Jon Jong-su, vice chairman of North Korea's state agency in charge of inter-Korean affairs, it said.
"Seoul is expected to accept the North's offer," a ministry official said.
The move is a follow-up to the high-level talks held last Tuesday, during which North Korea agreed to send athletes and others to the Feb. 9-25 Winter Games in the South.
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Kwon Hyok-bong, director of the performing arts bureau at the culture ministry and the North‘s chief delegate, left, and Hyon Song-wol, the leader of the Moranbong Band, 2nd to left, step into a meeting room at Tongilgak in the northern side of Panmunjeom for a working-level talks on Monday. (Yonhap) |
South Korea proposed last week holding working-level talks on Monday to discuss details about the North's participation. But the North instead offered talks on its plan to send an art troupe to the South.
The Ministry of Unification notified the North on Friday that Seoul will send a three-member delegation led by Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung.
Seoul earlier said that the working-level meeting will likely open before the International Olympic Committee's meeting slated for Saturday.
The IOC will convene a meeting with officials from the two Koreas in Lausanne, Switzerland to discuss details of the North's participation.
The reconciliatory moves came as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un extended a rare offer of rapprochement toward Seoul in his New Year's Day message following the North's nuclear and missile tests.
The two sides are expected to discuss the North Koreans' travel route, accommodation and other logistics. Seoul said that it agreed to provide necessary support for the North's delegation.
During last week's high-level talks, the South proposed that the two Koreas' athletes jointly march at the opening ceremony, which the North is said to be "positively" considering.
South Korea also proposed assembling a joint women's hockey team with North Korea at the Olympics. The IOC is reviewing the idea.
The government is reviewing how to transport and accommodate the North's delegation in a way that would not violate multilayered sanctions.
Under U.N. sanctions, the South can't offer cash directly to the North when it supports accommodation expenses.
Sea travel could be in violation of South Korea's unilateral sanctions that ban the entry to South Korea of any vessel that has sailed to North Korea within the past 12 months. It is highly likely that North Koreans would travel here by land.
Another sticking point is the North's possible inclusion in its delegation of high-ranking officials blacklisted by U.N. sanctions or Seoul's unilateral punitive actions. (Yonhap)
