North and South Korea held the highest-level talks in years here are the major breakthroughs

A police officer takes part in a security drill ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.Thomson Reuters

• North and South Korea held their highest-level talks since 2015 on Tuesday.
• They immediately produced results that went beyond the announced scope of the talks.
• North Korea will send athletes and performers to South Korea's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, which bodes well for the success of the games.
• The two countries will reportedly also reopen a military hotline, which greatly reduces the chance of war by accidental escalation.

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North and South Korea sent 20 diplomats to the "truce village" on Tuesday, where the two states, technically still at war since 1953, talked about the upcoming Winter Olympics.

Bu early indications show that the elephant in the room — rising nuclear tensions — made itself known.

"This winter has seen more snowstorms than ever, and rivers and mountains across the country are frozen," Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said to open the discussion, according to Reuters.

"It would not be an exaggeration to say that inter-Korean ties were even more frozen, but public yearning for improved relations was so strong that today’s precious event was brought about," he said.

He also expressed "high hopes" for the dialogue and promised an "invaluable result as the first present of the year" to South Korea.

All eyes on Panmunjom

Head of the North Korean delegation, Ri Son Gwon shakes hands with his South Korean counterpart Cho Myoung-gyon during their meeting at the truce village of PanmunjomThomson Reuters

In Panmunjom, the village in the demilitarized border zone between the two Koreas where an armistice halted fighting in the Korean War, diplomats from the two countries labored while microphones and cameras recorded their every word and move.

South Korean President Moon Jae In and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un both had access to live streams of the discussions, but no special message was made to either leader, according to reports.

The goods delivered

An ice sculpture of the Olympic rings is seen during the Pyeongchang Winter Festival in PyeongchangThomson Reuters

While many have maligned the talks as a North Korean attempt to drive a wedge between the US and South Korea, the talks resulted in a few tangible results on their first day.

Even better, the talks did not just focus on the Olympic games, and veered into other important inter-Korean relations, as US President Donald Trump and many others hoped they would:

1. North Korea will send performing artists, and a taekwondo team to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea, as well as possibly a pair of figure skaters, who may compete in the games.
2. The Koreas will reopen a military hotline, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency. Military-to-military hotlines serve as a first line of defense for deescalation. Having the line in place greatly reduces the chance of accidental military escalation.
3. Denuclearization came up. Although CNN reports that North Korea's delegation remained silent and did not respond to the mentions of South Korea's aim that Pyongyang fully denuclearize, the issue was broached in talks with North Korea for the first time in years.
4. South Korea mulled relaxing bans on North Korean officials, who have not been allowed south of the DMZ since nuclear tensions ratcheted up. South Korea may also allow North Korean citizens to visit the games.

Additional discussion took place around whether North Koreans could march with South Koreans in the ceremonies around the games, and if families separated by the DMZ could be reunited.

Long-term implications

JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images

In the short term, South Korea's Winter Olympics seems to have gained a massive vote of confidence from its often troublesome neighbor.

The presence of North Korean performers, athletes, and citizens at the games all but guarantees that the games will go over without a hitch from Pyongyang.

In the longer term, the situation remains fraught. The US still rejects North Korea's status as a de facto nuclear nation, and refuses to talk without the precondition that Pyongyang must denuclearize. 

But the talks have reversed the momentum of a spiraling series of nuclear threats and military escalations that saw the US and North Korea on the brink of war. 

"Washington should build on what has happened so far to signal to Kim that the diplomatic door is being cracked open," Joel Wit and Robert Carlin, both former State Department officials with experience with North Korea wrote in The Atlantic.

Despite the risk that North Korea may be only trying to trick the US and South Korea or stall until they can perfect their nuclear arsenal, there are few opportunities for dialogue, and even greater risks involved with not talking.

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