North Korea's delegation to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, including its leader Kim Jong Un's younger sister, had "frank and candid" talks with South Korean President Moon Jae In, official media said Sunday.
The Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim Yo Jong delivered a letter and message from her brother during the meeting Saturday in Seoul, but did not mention that Kim Jong Un invited Moon to visit Pyongyang for a summit.
South Korea's presidential office said after the meeting that the North Korean leader has invited Moon to visit his country and expressed willingness to improve inter-Korean ties in the letter.
Moon was quoted by the news agency as saying, "The current visit of the delegation of the north side created a spark of improving the inter-Korean relations and ensuring peace on the Korean peninsula."
"The inter-Korean relations should be mended by the parties concerned at any cost," Moon was quoted by the agency as adding.
North Korea's ceremonial leader Kim Yong Nam, who heads the delegation, responded by saying the two Koreas could overcome "unexpected difficulties" when "having a firm will and taking courage and determination to usher in a new heyday of inter-Korean relations," according to KCNA.
The formal meeting between Moon and the delegation was held the day after the two nations' athletes marched under a unified flag at the opening ceremony of the Olympics on Friday.
It was very rare for a South Korean president to hold formal talks with high-ranking North Korean officials, as the two countries remain technically at war after an armistice stopped the 1950-53 Korean War.
During the bilateral talks over lunch, neither side made mention of Pyongyang's nuclear issue, which is attracting international attention as a major security concern and has heightened tensions, a presidential office source said.
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