North Korea has named the members of the delegation that will take part in talks with South Korea next week, the first between the two neighbors in more than two years.
The North Korean delegation for Tuesday's meeting in the border truce village of Panmunjom will be led by Ri Son-Gwon, head of the North's agency handling inter-Korean affairs, the unification ministry in Seoul said.
Pyongyang informed the South that four other officials will accompany Ri, it added, including those in charge of sports.
The two Koreas agreed Friday to hold their first official dialogue in more than two years and are expected to discuss the North's participation in next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea.
The tentative rapprochement comes after the North's leader Kim Jong-Un warned in his New Year speech that he had a nuclear button on his desk, but also said Pyongyang could send a team to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Seoul responded with an offer of talks and last week the hotline between the neighbors was restored after being suspended for almost two years.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meanwhile voiced cautious hopes for the talks but stressed that having a meeting for the sake of a meeting would be a waste.
"The Olympics is a celebration of peace. I want to recognise that change," Abe said in a recorded interview aired Sunday on national broadcaster NHK.
His comments came as US President Donald Trump went a step further and said he was open to holding direct talks with Kim under certain conditions.
The two Koreas have been separated by the world's most heavily militarized border since the Korean War ended in a stalemate in 1953.
Assessing next week's discussions, Trump said "if something can happen and something can come out of those talks, that would be a great thing for all of humanity. That would be a great thing for the world."
The president also said that he had spoken with South Korean leader Moon Jae-in, who "thanks me very much for my tough stance."
"You have to have a certain attitude and you have to be prepared to do certain things and I'm totally prepared to do that," Trump said, contending his tough words have helped persuade the North to sit down with the South.
