South Korean has offered high level talks with North Korea on 9 January to discuss its possible participation in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
It comes after the North's leader Kim Jong-un said he was considering sending a team to Pyeongchang in South Korea for the Games in February.
He said the two sides should "urgently meet to discuss the possibility".
South Korea's president said earlier he saw the offer as a chance to improve the highly tense relationship.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Moon Jae-in said he had already proposed making the Olympic Games a " groundbreaking chance" to move towards peace.
He said the relevant ministries should "swiftly come up with follow-up measures to quickly restore South-North Korean dialogue" and ensure a delegation from the North could attend the Games.
But he said co-operation with the South's international allies on halting North Korea's controversial nuclear and ballistic weapon development would continue.
The South Korean government has proposed the talks could take place on 9 January.
REUTERS
In his speech on Monday, the North Korean leader repeated his threats against the US. He said the entire country was within range of North Korean weapons and the nuclear button was "always on my table".
However, he offered a potential olive branch to South Korea, saying the frozen relationship "should melt".
"The year 2018 is a significant year for both the North and the South, with the North marking the 70th anniversary of its birth and the South hosting the Winter Olympics.
"We should melt the frozen North-South relations, thus adorning this meaningful year as a year to be specially recorded in the history of the nation," he said.
'New Year's gift'
The president of the Pyeongchang Games' organising committee, Lee Hee-beom, earlier told South Korea's news agency Yonhap he was delighted to hear of the potential participation.
"It's like a New Year's gift," he said.
The only two North Korean athletes who qualified for the Games are figure skaters Ryom Tae-Ok and Kim Ju-Sik.
Although the North has missed the official deadline to confirm their participation, the skaters could still compete with an invitation by the International Olympic Committee.
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