North Korea to join Olympics in South Korea as tensions ease

SEOUL, South Korea – The rival Koreas took steps toward reducing their bitter animosity during rare talks Tuesday, as North Korea agreed to send a delegation to next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea, hold talks on lowering tension along their border and reopen a military hotline.

The meeting, the first of its kind in about two years, was arranged after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made an abrupt push for improved ties with South Korea following a year of elevated tensions with the outside world over his expanding nuclear and missile programs. Critics say Kim may be trying to divide Seoul and Washington in a bid to weaken international pressure and sanctions on the North.

"I think we took an important first step toward the development of South-North relations," chief South Korean delegate Cho Myoung-gyon said after the talks, according to media footage from the border village of Panmunjom, the venue.