Seoul keen to take up North Korea’s proposal for high-level talks
Seoul — South Korea has proposed holding high-level talks with Pyongyang on January 9, after the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, called for a breakthrough in relations and said Pyongyang might attend the Winter Olympics. Kim used his annual New Year address to underscore Pyongyang’s claim that it has developed a weapons deterrent and warn that he has a "nuclear button" on hand, but sweetened his remarks by expressing an interest in dialogue and participating in the games in the South. South Korea’s unification minister, Cho Myoung-gyon, said Seoul was "reiterating our willingness to hold talks with the North at any time and place in any form". "We hope that the South and North can sit face to face and discuss the participation of the North Korean delegation at the Pyeongchang Games as well as other issues of mutual interest for the improvement of inter-Korean ties," he said at a media conference. The two Koreas, which have been separated by a tense demilitarised zone since the end of t...
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