NORTH and South Korea began their first official talks in more than two years today, focusing on the forthcoming Winter Olympics after months of tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.

The talks in Panmunjom, the truce village in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) that divides the peninsula, came after the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, indicated in his New Year speech that he could send a delegation to next month’s Games in Pyeongchang in the South.

Seoul responded with an offer of a high-level dialogue, and last week, the hotline between the neighbours was restored after being suspended for almost two years.

Seoul’s five-member delegation, led by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, travelled to Panmunjom in a convoy of vehicles, passing a group of well-wishers holding a banner at a checkpoint leading towards the DMZ.

The North’s group, of similar size and led by senior official Ri Son-gwon, walked over the Military Demarcation Line at Panmunjom for the talks, pictures showed – just yards from where a defector ran across in a hail of bullets two months ago.

Looking businesslike, Cho and Ri shook hands at the entrance to the Peace House, the building on the southern side where the discussions were being held, and again across the table.

In accordance with standard practice in the North, Ri wore a badge on his left lapel bearing an image of the country’s founding father, Kim Il-sung, and his son and successor, Kim Jong-il.

Cho also wore a lapel badge, depicting the South Korean flag.

“Let’s present the people with a precious New Year gift,” said the North’s Ri.

“There is a saying that a journey taken by two lasts longer than the one travelled alone.”

Cho told him that Seoul believed the Pyeongchang Games “will become a peace Olympics, as most valuable guests from the North are going to join many others from all around the world”.

“The people have a strong desire to see the North and South move towards peace and reconciliation.”

‘Peace Olympics’

It was a radically different tone from the rhetoric of recent months, which have seen Jong-un and US President Donald Trump trade personal insults and bellicose threats of war, while Pyongyang has launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland and carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date.

Seoul has been keen to proclaim the Games in Pyeongchang, just 80km south of the DMZ, as a “peace Olympics” in the wake of missile and nuclear tests by the North – but it needs Pyongyang to attend to make the description meaningful.

If the North agrees, one of the top agenda items will be whether the two Koreas’ sportspeople make joint entrances to the opening and closing ceremonies, as they did for Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and the 2006 Winter Games in Turin.

The size and membership of the North Korean delegation and their accommodation – widely expected to be paid for by Seoul – will also be discussed.

The group may stay on a cruise ship in Sokcho, about an hour’s drive from the Olympic venue, which would enable their movements to be closely monitored and controlled.

With only two winter sports athletes qualified, North Korea is likely to bolster its presence by sending significant numbers of cheerleaders to the Pyeongchang Games, which run from February 9 to 25, say analysts.

Hundreds of young, female North Korean cheerleaders have created a buzz at three previous international sporting events in the South.

“For North Korea to achieve its desired effects and to attract attention, it will have to dispatch its beauty cheering squad,” said An Chan-il, a defector turned researcher who heads the World Institute for North Korea Studies.

South Korean reports have suggested that the North could send a high-level delegation to the Games, including Jong-un’s younger sister, Yo-Jong, who is a senior member of the ruling Workers’ Party.

‘Beyond the Olympics’

As well as the Olympics, the two sides could bring up their own priority issues, which analysts say will be much more challenging.

South Korea wants to discuss the resumption of family reunions, but Pyongyang snubbed previous offers, saying it will not consider further reunions unless several of its citizens are returned by the South.

The North will probably want to discuss a permanent end to large-scale annual military drills between Seoul and Washington.

The US and South Korea agreed last week to delay the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises until after the Games, apparently to help ease nerves.

Trump said over the weekend that he hoped the rare talks between the two Koreas would go “beyond the Olympics” and that Washington could join the process at a later stage.

But, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said there was “no turnaround” in the US stance, reiterating that the North must stop nuclear tests for talks with Washington. – AFP, January 9, 2018.