North Korea reportedly willing to conduct talks with US

Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, his wife Kim Jung-sook, first daughter and senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump, and North Korea's vice chairman of the ruling Worker's Party Central Committee Kim Yong Chol attend the closing ceremony.

• A North Korean official reportedly said that the country had "enough" willingness to conduct talks with the US.
• Kim Yong Chol, North Korea's vice chairman of the ruling Worker's Party Central Committee, made the comment to South Korean President Moon Jae In, during his trip to the South.

A high-ranking North Korean official said that North Korea has "enough" willingness to conduct talks with the US, according to South Korea's government on Sunday.

Kim Yong Chol, North Korea's vice chairman of the ruling Worker's Party Central Committee and the country's former intelligence chief, reportedly made the comment during a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae In during his visit to the 2018 Winter Olympics, according to South Korea's Yonhap News.

"President Moon pointed out that US-North Korea dialogue must be held at an early date even for an improvement in the South-North Korea relationship and the fundamental resolution of Korean Peninsula issues," a South Korean government official said in the report.

"The North Korean delegation too agreed that North Korea-US relations must develop along with the South-North Korea relationship while noting [the North] has enough intention to hold North Korea-US dialogue," the official continued.

Kim's comment comes amid a new round of US sanctions against North Korea and sharp words from President Donald Trump, who suggested if the sanctions were ineffective, the US would be forced to enter a "very rough" phase with the regime.

"If the sanctions don't work, we'll have to go Phase Two," Trump said during a press conference on Friday. "Phase Two may be a very rough thing. Maybe very, very unfortunate for the world."

Kim arrived in South Korea on Sunday as part of the North's delegation in the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. His presence was met with protests from many South Koreans, including lawmakers, who have blamed Kim's widely believed role in the orchestrating a series of provocations, namely the sinking of the South Korea's Cheonan - a South Korean naval ship that was hit with a torpedo in 2010.

Fourty-six South Korean sailors died in the incident which has since become a divisive issue in the country. During Vice President Mike Pence's recent trip to South Korea's Winter Olympics, he and South Korean President Moon Jae In visited a memorial of the incident, which includes a salvaged hull of the ship.

Chol's trip was approved by South Korea as a way to "improve inter-Korean ties and pave way for dialogue for peace," a spokesman from South Korea's Unification Ministry said in a previous Yonhap News report.