During first formal talks in two years North Korea said it will send a delegation of athletes, officials and a cheering squad to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea next month.
And in return, Seoul revealed it was prepared to lift some sanctions temporarily to facilitate the visit.
The talks were a dramatic step forward for relations on the Korean peninsula.
They are being closely watched after months of rising tensions over fears about North Korea’s missile launches and development of nuclear weapons in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
South Korea previously banned several North Korean officials from entering the country in response to Pyongyang’s ramped-up missile and nuclear tests, conducted despite international pressure.
However, some South Korean officials have said they see the Olympics as a possible opportunity for easing tensions.
Foreign ministry spokesman Roh Kyu-deok said Seoul would consider whether it needed to take “prior steps” to help the North Koreans visit for the Olympics.
At today’s talks, the first since December 2015, Seoul proposed inter-Korean military discussions to reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula and a reunion of family members in time for February’s Lunar New Year holiday.
South Korea also proposed athletes from the two Koreas march together at the Games’ opening ceremony and other joint activities between during the Winter Olympics.
Athletes from the two Koreas have paraded together at the opening and closing ceremonies of major international games before, although it has not been seen since the 2007 Asian Winter Games in China after relations chilled under nearly a decade of conservative rule in the South.
It would also be the first time since 2005 for the North to send its female cheerleaders, dubbed the “cheering squad of beauty” by South Korean media.