by Coco Jiang and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Pyongyang. Coco Jiang is working undercover in Pyongyang.
North Korea has accepted an offer to attend high-level talks next week.
The meeting, on 9 January, will focus on finding a way for North Korean athletes to attend the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea in February.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said this week that sending a delegation to the games would be "a good opportunity to show unity of the people".
The meeting is expected to be held at Panmunjom, on the border.
The so-called peace village, in the heavily guarded demilitarised zone (DMZ), is where the two sides have historically held talks.
South Korea's President Moon Jae-in has previously said sees the Winter Olympics as a "groundbreaking chance" to improve relations between the Koreas, two countries still technically at war.
Earlier this week, in a small sign of progress, North Korea restored a telephone hotline at their mutual border, to enable the first contact about talks to be made.
However, the South Korean Unification Ministry official told us at the BBC that the acceptance of the invitation to talks was sent by fax on Friday morning.
- What we know of Koreas' red and green phones
- Will N Korea compete in Winter Olympics?
- A history of North Korea at the Olympics
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