North Korea unexpectedly agrees to dialogue with South Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Photo: AP

According to the South Korean Unification Ministry, North Korea informed the South Korean side on January 5 that it agreed to Seoul's proposal to hold high-level talks between the two countries. The meeting is scheduled for January 9.

“The two sides decided to discuss the issues by exchanging documents,” South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said at a press briefing.

The main topics on the agenda for the talks will be how to improve long-stalled relations between North and South Korea, Baik said, adding that the two countries will also discuss plans to send a North Korean delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which will be hosted by South Korea next month.

Officials from the South Korean Unification Ministry said North Korea and South Korea had spoken three times on January 4 via the hotline located at the truce village of Panmunjom in the inter-Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ). Earlier, on the afternoon of January 3, North Korea also proactively called South Korea and the two sides conducted two phone exchanges. Earlier this week, South Korea proposed high-level talks with North Korea at the village of Panmunjom on January 9.

Since the hotline between the two countries was cut off in February 2016, South Korea has been calling North Korea twice a day, morning and afternoon, to initiate contact. However, Pyongyang has not answered the phone.

It was not until North Korean leader Kim Jong-un proposed peace talks with South Korea in his New Year's speech on January 1 that Pyongyang began communicating with Seoul again via the hotline, which was seen as a good sign for warming relations between the two neighboring countries after a long period of tension.