South Korea will consider temporary lifting of sanctions against North Korea to help Winter Olympics participation

North Korea said it will send athletes to the Pyeongchang Olympics

A man reads a newspaper featuring a photograph of Cho Myoung-gyon, South Korea's unification minister (L), shaking hands with Ri Son Gwon, chairman of North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, on its front page in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday. Jean Chung / Bloomberg

North Korea's chief delegate Ri Son Gwon (C, back) and delegates leave after meeting with South Korean delegates (not pictured) in the truce village of Panmunjom, North Korea, on January 9, 2018. Jung Ui-chel / EPA

Members of conservative groups shout slogans during a rally against North Korea's nuclear power in downtown in Seoul, South Korea, on January 9, 2018. Jeon Heon-kyun / EPA

Vehicles carrying South Korean delegates pass a military check point on the Unification Bridge, linked to North Korea, near the demilitarised zone at dawn in Paju, South Korea, on Tuesday. SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg

South Korean unification minister Cho Myoung-gyon (R) and head of North Korean delegation Ri Son Gwon (L) walk into a meeting room before their meeting at the Panmunjom in the Demilitarised Zone on January 9, 2018. Getty Images

Head of the North Korean delegation Ri Son Gwon shakes hands with his South Korean counterpart, Cho Myoung-gyon, during their meeting at the truce village of Panmunjom. Reuters

Head of the North Korean delegation Ri Son Gwon talks with his South Korean counterpart, Cho Myoung-gyon, during their meeting at the truce village of Panmunjom. Reuters

North Korea's chief delegate Ri Son Gwon (C) and delegates leave after meeting with South Korean delegates (not pictured) in the truce village of Panmunjom, North Korea. Jung Ui-chel / EPA

North Korea said during rare talks with the South on Tuesday it would send a delegation to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea next month and Seoul said it was prepared to lift some sanctions temporarily so the visit could take place.

At the first formal talks with South Korea in more than two years, North Korean officials said their delegation to the Games would consist of athletes, high-ranking officials and a cheering squad.

The talks are being closely watched by world leaders eager for any sign of a reduction in tension on the Korean peninsula, amid rising fears over North Korea's missile launches and development of nuclear weapons in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.

South Korea has unilaterally banned several North Korean officials from entry in response to Pyongyang's ramped-up missile and nuclear tests, held despite international pressure.

However, some South Korean officials have said they see the Olympics as a possible opportunity for easing tension.

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Detente between Korean nations as Winter Olympics helps break ice

Seoul hopes to resume reunions of separated family members

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Foreign ministry spokesman Roh Kyu-deok said Seoul would consider whether it needed to take "prior steps", together with the UN Security Council and other relevant countries, to help the North Koreans visit for the Olympics.

At Tuesday's talks, the first since December 2015, Seoul proposed inter-Korean military discussions to reduce tension on the peninsula and a reunion of family members in time for February's Lunar New Year holiday, South Korea's vice unification minister Chun Hae-sung said.

The North has finished technical work to restore a military hotline with South Korea, he added, with normal communications set to resume on Wednesday. But Mr Chun did not immediately say what information would be transferred along the hotline.

The North severed communications in February 2016, following the South's decision to shut down a jointly run industrial park in the North.

South Korea also proposed that athletes from both sides march together at the Games' opening ceremony and other joint activities during the Winter Olympics, Mr Chun told reporters outside the talks.

Athletes from the two Koreas have paraded together at the opening and closing ceremonies of major international games before, although this has not been seen since the 2007 Asian Winter Games in China, after relations chilled under nearly a decade of conservative rule in the South.

It would also be the first time since 2005 that the North will send its female cheerleaders, dubbed the "cheering squad of beauty" by the South Korean media.