<p class="title">North Korea said on Wednesday it will reopen a hotline with the South to discuss attending the Winter Olympics, forging ahead with peace overtures despite taunts from US President Donald Trump who said he has a "much bigger" nuclear button than Kim Jong-Un.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The hotline, which was cut by the North in 2016, is to be restored after Seoul proposed high-level talks in response to an olive branch from the North's leader ahead of next month's Pyeongchang Games.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Kim's overtures to the South marked a rare softening in tone, as tensions over its banned weapons programme have surged in recent months following a flurry of missile launches and its most powerful nuclear test yet.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Seoul responded with an offer to hold talks on January 9 - the first since 2015 - to discuss "matters of mutual interest", including Kim's suggestion that the reclusive nation could participate in the Olympics.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But Kim's New Year address also included a warning to the US that he has a "nuclear button" on his table, prompting a furious response from President Trump via Twitter.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the 'Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.'</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works" he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Trump's remarks came as his ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley dismissed Seoul's offer to hold talks, calling it a "band-aid".</p>.<p class="bodytext">US State Department spokesman Heather Nauert also warned that Kim "may be trying to drive a wedge of some sort between the two nations - between our nation and the Republic of Korea".</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the rapprochement seemed to be moving ahead on Wednesday, with Kim welcoming Seoul's support for his overtures, according to Ri Son-gwon, the head of North Korea's agency handling inter-Korean affairs.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The two countries, which are divided by a Demilitarized Zone since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, last held high-level talks in 2015 to try to ease tensions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The hotline, located in the truce village of Panmunjom, remained operational until February 2016, with operators from both countries checking it twice a day.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The channel was shut down when relations deteriorated over a dispute involving the Kaesong industrial complex, which was jointly operated by both countries.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Seoul welcomed Pyongyang's decision to reopen the hotline as "very significant", with chief presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan saying "it creates an environment where communication will be possible at all times".</p>.<p class="bodytext">South Korean President Moon Jae-In has long favoured engagement with the nuclear-armed North, but the Trump administration insists the regime must give up its weapons drive before any negotiations can take place.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ambassador Haley told reporters that Washington could not take the talks seriously "if they don't do something to ban all nuclear weapons in North Korea".</p>.<p class="bodytext">North Korea has shrugged off a raft of new sanctions and heightened rhetoric from Washington as it drives forward with its weapons program, which it says is for defence against US aggression.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Pyongyang claims it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself from a hostile Washington and has striven to create a warhead capable of targeting the US mainland with an atomic warhead.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Moon on Tuesday welcomed Kim's olive branch as a "positive response" to Seoul's hopes that the Pyeongchang Olympics would be a "groundbreaking opportunity for peace".</p>.<p class="bodytext">But any rapprochement between the two countries will take place against a backdrop of suspicion, if not outright hostility, by Washington, with Trump and Kim exchanging angry insults since the US leader took office a year ago.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Trump has mocked Kim as "fat" and a "little rocket man." Kim, for his part has described Trump as a "mentally deranged US dotard."</p>.<p class="bodytext">burs-amu/sls</p>
<p class="title">North Korea said on Wednesday it will reopen a hotline with the South to discuss attending the Winter Olympics, forging ahead with peace overtures despite taunts from US President Donald Trump who said he has a "much bigger" nuclear button than Kim Jong-Un.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The hotline, which was cut by the North in 2016, is to be restored after Seoul proposed high-level talks in response to an olive branch from the North's leader ahead of next month's Pyeongchang Games.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Kim's overtures to the South marked a rare softening in tone, as tensions over its banned weapons programme have surged in recent months following a flurry of missile launches and its most powerful nuclear test yet.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Seoul responded with an offer to hold talks on January 9 - the first since 2015 - to discuss "matters of mutual interest", including Kim's suggestion that the reclusive nation could participate in the Olympics.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But Kim's New Year address also included a warning to the US that he has a "nuclear button" on his table, prompting a furious response from President Trump via Twitter.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the 'Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.'</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works" he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Trump's remarks came as his ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley dismissed Seoul's offer to hold talks, calling it a "band-aid".</p>.<p class="bodytext">US State Department spokesman Heather Nauert also warned that Kim "may be trying to drive a wedge of some sort between the two nations - between our nation and the Republic of Korea".</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the rapprochement seemed to be moving ahead on Wednesday, with Kim welcoming Seoul's support for his overtures, according to Ri Son-gwon, the head of North Korea's agency handling inter-Korean affairs.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The two countries, which are divided by a Demilitarized Zone since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, last held high-level talks in 2015 to try to ease tensions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The hotline, located in the truce village of Panmunjom, remained operational until February 2016, with operators from both countries checking it twice a day.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The channel was shut down when relations deteriorated over a dispute involving the Kaesong industrial complex, which was jointly operated by both countries.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Seoul welcomed Pyongyang's decision to reopen the hotline as "very significant", with chief presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan saying "it creates an environment where communication will be possible at all times".</p>.<p class="bodytext">South Korean President Moon Jae-In has long favoured engagement with the nuclear-armed North, but the Trump administration insists the regime must give up its weapons drive before any negotiations can take place.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ambassador Haley told reporters that Washington could not take the talks seriously "if they don't do something to ban all nuclear weapons in North Korea".</p>.<p class="bodytext">North Korea has shrugged off a raft of new sanctions and heightened rhetoric from Washington as it drives forward with its weapons program, which it says is for defence against US aggression.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Pyongyang claims it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself from a hostile Washington and has striven to create a warhead capable of targeting the US mainland with an atomic warhead.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Moon on Tuesday welcomed Kim's olive branch as a "positive response" to Seoul's hopes that the Pyeongchang Olympics would be a "groundbreaking opportunity for peace".</p>.<p class="bodytext">But any rapprochement between the two countries will take place against a backdrop of suspicion, if not outright hostility, by Washington, with Trump and Kim exchanging angry insults since the US leader took office a year ago.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Trump has mocked Kim as "fat" and a "little rocket man." Kim, for his part has described Trump as a "mentally deranged US dotard."</p>.<p class="bodytext">burs-amu/sls</p>