Seoul welcomes Kim's New Year addresss

Volatile situation

The situation on the peninsula remained volatile throughout 2017, as the DPRK test-fired several ballistic missiles, including three intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Meanwhile, the US conducted constantly large scale military drills in the ROK and in waters around the peninsula by sending aircraft carrier groups, strategic bombers, nuclear submarines, and other strategic assets there.

The United Nations has also voted four times for imposing new sanctions against the DPRK.

The ROK President Moon Jae-in said last month that annual springtime war games between the ROK and the US can be delayed to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula before the Pyeongchang games.

Moon said he had made that proposal to the US side, which had been reviewing Moon's proposal. Moon noted that the overture depended solely on how the DPRK would respond.

If inter-Korean talks are held to discuss the DPRK's participation in the sports event, other issues could be on the dialogue table such as the reunion of separated families between the neighbors and the halt of hostile acts near the inter-Korean border.

Moon, who took office in May, had made four proposals to the DPRK, including the reunion of the divided families between the neighbors, the DPRK's participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the cease of hostile acts near the military demarcation line separating the two countries, and inter-Korean dialogues.

People in the two nations have been banned from exchanging letters and visiting each other since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice. The peninsula has remained technically in a state of war since then.

Xinhua