N Korea to participate in Winter Olympics

North Korea has agreed to send athletes to February's Winter Olympics in South Korea after the two countries held their first official talks after more than two years.

The talks were held at the border village of Panmunjom or "truce village," in the Korean peninsula's heavily fortified demilitarized zone DMZ.

North Korea concurred to sending a "high-level delegation" which will include athletes, a cheering squad, an art troupe, a visitors' group, a Taekwondo demonstration team and a press corps, reported CNN, saying South Korea's vice unification minister, Chun Hae-sung, as saying.

The minister also announced that both the sides plan to re-open a military hotline, which was one of many that were shut as inter-Korean relations strained, on the western Korean Peninsula, the report said.

The five-member North Korean delegation travelled to the border in a motorcade. This was the two countries' first face-to-face talks since December 2015, according to the reports.

The Winter Olympics is scheduled to take place at South Korea's Pyeongchang from February 9-25.