North and South Korea reduce tension in historic meeting

The two Koreas chose to lower tensions in the region yesterday at a historic meeting on the border, agreeing to open military dialogue and facilitate North Korean participation in the Winter Olympics, which will be held in the South Korean district of Pyeongchang in February.

The meeting, the first of its kind in more than two years, had a cordial tone and took place in the village of Panmunjom, in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). North Korea accepted the South’s proposal of military talks to calm the situation on the Korean peninsula, improve border relations, and reassure Beijing and Washington.

In addition, the delegation from the North reported that it has reopened and is now beginning to use one of the lines for military communications on the east coast of the Korean peninsula. Pyongyang stopped using these lines with South Korea in February 2016 in protest at the closure of the inter-Korean industrial estate approved by Seoul. This reactivation of relations and dialogue between the two armies reduces the possibility of military miscalculations on the border between the two countries, which have been technically at war for 65 years.

The North will now send a delegation of officials, entertainers and athletes to the Games in the South.