The Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have begun their first formal talks in two years. The meeting started at 10:00 local time (01:00 GMT) when the two countries came together to discuss how the DPRK's athletes can attend next month's PyeongChang Winter Olympics despite the ongoing political tensions.
The talks come after DPRK's leader Kim Jong Un used his New Year's Day speech to announce he was open to sending a delegation to the Olympics as well as reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Five senior officials from each side are currently meeting at the Peace House on the ROK side of the Panmunjom truce village. One of the top items on the agenda will be whether athletes from the two nations can make a joint entrance at the opening and closing ceremonies, as they did for Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, and the 2006 Winter Games in Turin.
If the dialogue succeeds, it will mean the DPRK will compete at the Games, which would be the fifth time the country attended events organized by South Korea since the turn of the century:-
On August 3, 2002, the two countries held a meeting at Mount Kumgang to discuss the DPRK attending the Busan Asian Games in ROK that year.
Finally on Sept. 29, 2002, at the opening ceremony of the Busan Asian Games, the two nations athletes marched into the arena together.
In August, 2003, the DPRK attended the 2003 Universiade Games and the countries once again marched together at the ceremonies.
In September, 2005, the DPRK sent about 100 people to cheer their team on at the Incheon Asian Athletics championships.
In July 2014, DPRK and ROK officials held a meeting to discuss DPRK athletes competing at the Incheon Asian Games. The DPRK delegation arrived on Sept. 11, but did so without the cheer squad this time, and the two nations did not march together in the opening ceremony.
On Oct. 4, 2014. the DPRK sent high level officials to the closing ceremony of The Incheon Asian Games.
June 2017 saw the World Taekwondo Championships being held in Muju. During the opening ceremony, ROK President Moon Jae-in made a proposal for the nations to form a unified team at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics that begin Feb. 9.
The size and membership of the DPRK delegation, and their accommodation – widely expected to be paid for by Seoul – will also be discussed. With only a handful of qualified winter sports athletes, analysts believe the DPRK is also likely to send significant numbers of cheerleaders to the PyeongChang Games, which run from Feb. 9 to 25.
