S Korea proposes high-working talks with N Korea

South Korea has proposed working-level talks with North Korea next week, to discuss the former's participation in the next month's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in more details.

South Korea's unification ministry has proposed the talks to be held at the border village of Panmunjom, located along the heavily militarised Demilitarised Zone (DMZ). The ministry notified Pyongyang that Seoul will send a three-member delegation, led by Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung, the Yonhap news agency reported.

On Tuesday, after the high-level talks, North Korea agreed to send their own delegation, athletes, cheerleaders, an art troupe and taekwondo demonstration teams.

This is the third round of bilateral talks between the two Koreas, signalling a further thaw in their strained relations.

However, North Korea is yet to give an official response to Seoul's proposal of holding the working-level talks.

A unification ministry official said, "Liaison officers of the two sides put their communication channel at the border village of Panmunjom into operation for the day with a phone call at 9:32 a.m., but there has been no response to the South's proposal to hold working-level talks on Monday".

Earlier, South Korea proposed a joint women's hockey team with North Korea at the Winter Olympics. The idea of putting together the unified Korean team was dwelled upon during Tuesday's talks. However, the North is yet to take a call on it.

The two sides have also agreed to hold military talks on solving border tensions.

The Winter Olympics is scheduled to take place at South Korea's Pyeongchang from February 9-25.

After the proposed working-level talks, another meeting is scheduled to take place between the two countries on January 20.

The Jan 20 meeting will be chaired by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

--ANI