South Korea offers high-level talks with North Korea

South Korea has proposed talks with its northern neighbor, as tensions remain over North Korea’s aggression and nuclear ambition ahead of the upcoming winter Olympics.

South Korea’s unification minister said he thinks the talks would be held in Panmunjom, on the border, and would likely center around Pyongyang’s athletes partaking in the Olympics, Reuters reported.

{mosads}“We look forward to candidly discussing interests from both sides face-to-face with North Korea along with the North’s participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics,” said Cho Myong-gyon, the South’s unification minister, as reported by the news service. 

“I repeat, the government is open to talking with North Korea, regardless of time, location and form.”

The potential talks would take place on Jan. 9 and would mark the first discourse between the two countries since December of 2015, according to Reuters.

South Korea is hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. The games are set to begin on February 9.

President Trump has warned Pyongyang against any aggressive military action, vowing to destroy the country should the U.S. be provoked.

The United States has turned to China for help in reining in Pyongyang over its nuclear program, as China controls much of the energy imported into North Korea.

But the North has not shown any signs of ending its nuclear testing. In November, Pyongyang launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, which Defense Secretary James Mattis said “went higher, frankly, than any previous shot they’ve taken.”