S. Korea sends list of delegation to DPRK for high-level talks

SEOUL - South Korea's unification ministry said Saturday that it has sent the list of a five-member delegation to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DRPK) through the restored hotline for next week's inter-Korean high-level talks.

The proposed South Korean delegation will be led by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, according to Seoul's unification ministry.

Four other delegates include Vice Unification Minister Chung Haesung, Second Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Roh Tae-kang, Ahn Moon-hyun, deputy director-general at the Prime Minister's Office, and Kim Ki-hong, a vice president of games planning at the organizing committee for the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games.

The hotline operation was closed without receiving the DPRK's list of its delegation. It will be resumed Sunday.

The DPRK accepted South Korea's dialogue overture Friday, agreeing to hold senior-level, inter-governmental talks Tuesday at the Peace House in the South Korean side of Panmunjom that straddles the inter-Korean land border.

The hotline of direct dialogue between the two Koreas was reopened earlier this week for the first time in almost two years.

Signs of a thaw were seen on the Korean Peninsula as top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un said in his New Year's address that his country was willing to dispatch a delegation to the South Korea-hosted Winter Olympics set to kick off in February.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed earlier this week with US President Donald Trump that the two allies would not conduct the annual springtime war games during the Winter Olympic period.