The agreement represents a diplomatic breakthrough after months of tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program and has come with a pledge to reopen a military hotline and to hold talks between the two nations in order to reduce conflict.

North Korea has agreed to send a delegation of officials and athletes to the Winter Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, next month, according to NBC News.

The North has said that its delegation will include athletes, high-ranking officials, a cheering squad, art performers, reporters and spectators,, The Guardian reported.

This decision came after the two countries ended their first official talks in more than two years.

The discussions, which were held in Panmunjom, the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), were closed to outside observers.

“We have high expectations that the Olympics turn out to be a peace festival with special guests from the North,” South Korea’s unification minister, Cho Myoung-gyon, said in a statement.

The agreement represents a diplomatic breakthrough after months of tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program and has come with a pledge to reopen a military hotline and to hold talks between the two nations in order to reduce conflict.

South Korea said that Seoul will temporary lift sanctions on the North in order to allow them to participate in the Pyeongchang Games, which start on the Feb. 9, and also proposed that the two nations march together during the opening and closing ceremonies.

The North has said that it will not discuss its nuclear weapons during talks with Seoul. as these were aimed at the United States and not its “brethren” in South Korea.

The North issued a complaint after 11 hours of talks when Seoul proposed to denuclearise the Korean peninsula and said: “All our weapons including atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs and ballistic missiles are only aimed at the United States, not our brethren, nor China and Russia,” the statement said.

“This is not a matter between North and South Korea, and to bring up this issue would cause negative consequences and risks turning all of today’s good achievement into nothing.”

In a separate statement, the South’s unification ministry said: “We will closely coordinate with the United States, China, Japan and other neighbours in this process.”

Duyeon Kim who is a visiting senior research fellow at the Korean Peninsula Future Forum, a think-tank in Seoul, said that previous summits were plagued by “nitpicking”.

“It’s clear that the North is focused on the atmospherics and the PR aspects of these talks this time,” she said. “The big question will be what actions North Korea shows after the Winter Olympics. How will Kim Jong Un prove he is serious about inter-Korean relations?”

With the games just weeks away, the participation of the North Korean athletes will also require agreement from the international Olympic Committee in Geneva as North Korea missed a key deadline for registration.