Seoul [South Korea]: South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet the North Korean delegation, led by its ceremonial leader Kim Yong-nam on Saturday, the presidential office said on Thursday.
The South Korean presidential spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom said in a statement, “President Moon plans to hold a meeting and have lunch with the North Korean delegation on February 10.”
The development comes after both the Koreas held three rounds of talks last month, which was the first of their kind in over two years, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Earlier in the day, the South Korean unification ministry announced on Thursday that North Korea will send its high-level delegation by plane to South Korea for attending the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
“The delegation led by the country’s nominal head of state Kim Yong-nam will arrive at the international airport in Incheon, west of Seoul, at around 1:30 pm on Friday,” the ministry said in a statement.
The high-level delegation also includes Kim Yo-jong, who is the younger sister of Kim Jong-un. She is the first person from the ruling Kim family to visit South Korea. They will stay for just three days.
This would be the first time since October 2014, when an air trip was made by a North Korean delegation. It was led by three top officials, Hwang Pyong-so, Choe Ryong-hae and Kim Yang-gon, who visited Incheon to attend the closing ceremony of the Asian Games.
North Korea announced on Sunday that Yong-nam will be arriving at Pyeongchang for attending the Winter Olympics and will head a 22-member delegation, which included three delegates and 18 supportive staffers.
Yong-nam is the President of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea.
Earlier this month, North and South Korea agreed to field a joint women’s ice hockey team and also march together under a unified Korea flag at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.
North Korea will send 24 officials, including coaches, alongside the 22 athletes in three sports and five disciplines.
The two sides had met at the border village of Panmunjom, located along the heavily guarded Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) for working-level and military talks.
The Winter Games will take place from February 9 to 25. The Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics will be held between March 8 to 18.
The development between the two countries has brought some ease into their strained relations. (ANI)