[Yonhap News Photo]
SEOUL, Jan. 01 (Aju News) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a sudden peace overture in his New Year message, saying he is willing to send a sports delegation to the Winter Olympics to be held in South Korea next month.
The Winter Games in South Korea's eastern ski resort of Pyeongchang will provide a good chance to show the world the "status" of Korean people, Kim said, expressing his hope that the event would be a success.
"We are willing to take necessary steps including the dispatch of our delegation," Kim said calling for urgent inter-Korean talks on the presence of North Korean players in Pyeongchang.
Kim's overture requires approval from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), although IOC President Thomas Bach promised to grant North Korean athletes wild card entries.
It was North Korea's first response to a series of conciliatory gestures proposed by South Korean President Moon Jae-in to promote cross-border rapprochement.
For the two Koreas, this year holds significance as North Korea also marks the 70th anniversary of its foundation, Kim said, suggesting the two Koreas should seek an "epochal" change in 2018 by easing frozen cross-border relations.
"Above all, North and South Korea should ease acute military tensions and create a peaceful environment on the Korean peninsula," Kim said, adding the two Koreas should not aggravate relations any longer.
For truce inter-Korean reconciliation, Kim said North Korea is ready to open the doors for contact and dialogue with any South Korean figures and groups. However, he urged South Korea to stop all joint war games with the United States and stop bringing U.S. nuclear arsenal to its soil.
There are about 28,000 US troops stationed in South Korea. Extra US military assets and personnel come from abroad for regular joint drills that Washington and Seoul insist are purely defensive in nature, but which Pyongyang condemns as provocative rehearsals for an attack on the North.
In July, Moon called for the resumption of regular military talks on easing tensions along the heavily armed border. He also said South Korea could put the joint drills to a temporary halt next month to facilitate the North's participation in the Pyeongchang event.
Compared to his conciliatory gesture to Seoul, Kim issued a stern warning to Washington, saying it is in the range of North Korea's nuclear strike.
The United States must clearly know that the nuclear button is "always on my desk", Kim said, vowing to step up the development and production of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.
Kim has locked horns with U.S. President Donald Trump in an escalating war of nerves. The North's leader has threatened to take the "highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history", snubbing Trump as a "deranged dotard" in response to his insulting remarks.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
