North Korea has named its delegation for a rare high-level meeting with the South this week, the unification ministry in Seoul said Sunday, as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cautiously welcomed the talks. The two Koreas agreed Friday to hold their first official dialogue in more than two years and are expected to discuss the North's participation in next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea.

The North Korean delegation for Tuesday's meeting in the border truce village of Panmunjom will be led by Ri Son-Gwon, head of the North's agency handling inter-Korean affairs, the ministry said. Pyongyang informed the South that four other officials will accompany Ri, it added, including those in charge of sports.

The tentative rapprochement comes after the North's leader Kim Jong-Un warned in his New Year speech that he had a nuclear button on his desk, but also said Pyongyang could send a team to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018