New Year's gift

Ri said in his introductory remarks that he hoped to give the first New Year's gift to people on the Korean Peninsula, which would be a "precious outcome" of the talks.

In response, Cho said the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games were anticipated to become a peace festival as the delegation, which he described as "precious visitors", would come from the DPRK.

Cho said the inter-Korean dialogue was resumed after a long hiatus, asking his DPRK counterpart to continue talks with a firm will and patience.

Signs of a thaw in inter-Korean relations emerged as top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un said in an address that his country was willing to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics and talk with Seoul about it.

The following day, the ROK proposed the talks. Pyongyang accepted without changing the timing or place Seoul had suggested.

Xinhua