News / Koreas

Koreas to hold working-level talks on January 15

Saturday, 13 January 2018 2:54 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 13 January 2018 2:54 PM ]

The photo taken on November 30, 2016 shows soldiers of the North Korean People's Army (KPA) standing guard before the military demarcation line and the so-called Peace House, proposed as the venue of upcoming talks between North and South Korea, in the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two countries. (AFP photo)

North Korea and South Korea have announced that they will hold a new round of working-level talks in a border village to discuss the details and formalities of the North’s participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics in the South.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that delegations from the two countries would meet on the North Korean side of the border in the truce village of Panmunjom on January 15.

The talks, the ministry said, would focus on the prospects of North Korea sending its performance art group to the Winter Olympic Games.

“In addition, the ministry also requested for a quick response for South Korea’s proposal on Jan. 12 to have working-level talks about the North’s participation in Pyongchang Winter Olympics,” said the statement, adding that Unification Minister Cho Myung-kyun would lead South Korea’s delegation to the talks.

The two Koreas are to hold the upcoming negotiations amid widening differences on the North’s weapons and nuclear program. The two said earlier this week after 11 hours of talks, the first in more than two years, that North Korea had agreed to send a large delegation to next month’s Winter Olympics.

The South also seeks to gain the North’s approval on sending a combined women’s hockey team to the games.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said on Saturday that Pyongyang had earlier in the day made a proposal on the January 15 talks. Authorities in North Korea’s International Olympics Committee (IOC) said they were considering the proposal while the committee would also host talks between the representatives of the two sides on January 20.

After the meeting earlier this week, the two countries said they had agreed to hold military talks, which could seriously dampen tensions between the two neighbors.

Russia, China optimistic about talks

World powers have reacted positively to the news of renewed dialogue between the two Koreas. Russia and China, two major allies of North Korea, said that they needed to team up to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

After talks in Moscow on Saturday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and his Chinese counterpart Kong Xuanyou said that “mutually promoted peaceful initiatives” had to be the sole basis for easing tensions in North-East Asia, a region where countries such as Japan and South Korea along with their traditional ally the United States have even warned of launching a war against the North to stop it from pursuing its weapons program.

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