South Korea: Olympics should lead to nuclear talks with US

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Monday a thaw in inter-Korean relations ahead of next month's Winter Olympics presented a "precious chance" to bring about talks between the US and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

After a year of mounting tension on the Korean peninsula, diplomacy focused on sport enabled the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to announce on Saturday that DPRK will send 22 athletes to the Winter Games, being held

from Feb. 9 to 25.

The Olympics are providing a "precious chance to open the door" for talks to resolve the nuclear issue and establish peace on the peninsula, Moon said at a meeting of senior officials at the presidential Blue House.

"But no one can be optimistic about how long the current mood for dialogue will last," Moon said.

"We need wisdom and efforts to sustain the dialogue opportunities ... beyond the Olympics so that the inter-Korean talks will lead to talks between the US and DPRK and other forms of dialogue."

While a recent opinion poll showed most South Koreans welcome DPRK's participation in the Games, conservative opponents staged a small, but noisy rally as a DPRK's delegation inspected venues in Seoul for cultural events to be held on the sidelines of the Olympics.

Holding a sign saying "We're opposed to Kim Jong Un's Pyongyang Olympics!", the protesters chanted that the DPRK had "snatched" attention for the showpiece event from South Korea.

A series of events including concerts, joint training exercises and sporting demonstrations are planned around Olympics.

(REUTERS)