DPRK offers talks with S.Korea about art troupe's dispatch to Winter Olympics

SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) offered to South Korea to hold talks about the dispatch of its art troupe to the 2018 Winter Olympics, Seoul's unification ministry said Saturday.

The DPRK proposed to South Korea holding a working-level dialogue on Jan. 15 in Tongilgak, a building controlled by the DPRK in the truce village of Panmunjom, to discuss the dispatch of its art troupe to the South Korea-hosted Winter Olympics.

The proposal letter was sent to the South Korean side through the restored hotline of direct dialogue in Panmunjom, which straddles the heavily guarded inter-Korean land border.

It was a counterproposal to South Korea's offer on Friday to hold working-level talks on Jan. 15 at the Peace House in the South Korean side of Panmunjom to discuss the dispatch of all delegations from the DPRK, including the art group.

The DPRK said it will notify South Korea of its proposed schedules for working-level dialogues about other issues such as the dispatch of athletes and cheering squads.

On Tuesday, the two Koreas held senior-level talks in Panmunjom, the first high-level dialogue between the two Koreas in about two years, agreeing that the DPRK will join the 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games slated to run from February to March in South Korea's eastern county of PyeongChang. Enditem