Aftermath of the Korean War

North Korea has requested that working talks on sending its athletes to next month's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics be held on Wednesday at the truce village of Panmunjom, the South's unification ministry said in a mobile text message.

South and North Korea began their first formal talks in more than two years Tuesday to discuss the North's potential participation in next month's Winter Olympics and ways to improve their long-stalled ties.

The high-level talks started at 10:00 a.m. at the truce village of Panmunjom in the heavily fortified border area, according to Seoul's unification ministry.

 Pope Francis called on Monday for all nations to support dialogue to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula and to work for a legally binding ban on nuclear weapons, reported Reuters. 

North Korea agreed on Friday to hold official talks with the South next week, the first in more than two years, hours after the United States and South Korea delayed a military exercise amid a standoff over the North's nuclear and missile programs, reported Reuters.

North and South Korea will hold official talks next week for the first time in more than two years after Pyongyang accepted Seoul’s offer for dialogue, just hours after the United States and South Korea delayed a joint military exercise.

U.S. President Donald Trump has responded to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's boast that he has a "nuclear button" on his desk by warning that the United States has a "bigger and more powerful" nuclear trigger.

"North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the 'Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times'," Trump tweeted on January 2.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, warned North Korea on Tuesday against staging another missile test and said Washington would not take any talks between North and South Korea seriously if they did not do something to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons, Reuters reported.

The chief U.S. negotiator for North Korea said on Friday the United States should engage in direct diplomacy with Pyongyang alongside sanctions imposed over its nuclear program, Reuters reported. 

The United States, Japan and South Korea are set to hold two days of missile tracking drills starting on Dec. 11, Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force said, as tensions rise in the region over North Korea’s fast-developing weapons programs.

The administration of then US President Bill Clinton believed that the US military and South Korea's forces would win a conflict on the Korean Peninsula, but also understood the number of casualties would be enormous.