North Korea wants to talk to the US. That’s a big deal.

But don’t get too excited just yet.

By Alex Ward@AlexWardVoxalex.ward@vox.com  Updated Feb 25, 2018, 12:14pm EST

After years of threatening to kill millions of Americans with nuclear weapons, North Korea now says it wants to chat with US leaders as way to lower tensions due to its improving nuclear weapons program.

That’s big: Washington and Pyongyang only hold diplomatic talks about very specific issues, like releasing US hostages from North Korea. But they rarely discuss a way toward ending the years of animosity between the two countries.

This news comes courtesy of Kim Yong Chol — North Korea’s top representative to the closing ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea — and two days after the US imposed its harshest ever sanctions on North Korea, designed in part to compel the regime to sit down at the bargaining table. North Korea condemned those sanctions in a Sunday statement.

The announcement also comes two weeks after North Korea pulled out of a planned February 10 discussion between Vice President Mike Pence and top Pyongyang officials — including North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong.

Kim reportedly made no mention of whether North Korea would discuss ending its nuclear or missile programs — an issue President Donald Trump and top US officials want to negotiate. But North Korea did signal it wants to improve relations with America as it simultaneously builds confidence with South Korea.

Hours later on Sunday, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders released a statement about North Korea’s new offer.

“As President Trump has said, there is a brighter path available for North Korea if it chooses denuclearization,” Sanders said. ”We will see if Pyongyang’s message today, that it is willing to hold talks, represents the first steps along the path to denuclearization. In the meantime, the United States and the world must continue to make clear that North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs are a dead end.”

Conditions are ripe for a meeting
High level talks with North Korea are difficult, experts tell me, because both sides remain inflexible on key policy positions, which makes it near impossible for them to agree to a meeting. For example, North Korea wants America to stop its military drills with South Korea, but those are likely to restart before April. North Korea also wants to improve its nuclear program; the US, on the other hand, wants the country to dismantle its arsenal.

Washington and Pyongyang, however, might hold lower level meetings in the near future. Here’s why: Alison Hooker, who helps President Donald Trump’s North Korea policy on the National Security Councisel, joined the US delegation to the Olympics. She and Kim — who stands accused of orchestrating a 2010 attack on a South Korean ship that killed around 50 sailors — actually met before when Hooker tried to secure the release of American hostages in 2014.

What’s more, North Korea also sent Choe Kang Il, who heads US affairs in North Korea’s foreign ministry, as part of Pyongyang’s delegation. There’s really no other reason for Choe to join North Korea’s group unless there was some possibility of a US-North Korea meeting. Per the Washington Post, both Choe and Hooker weren’t visible during the closing ceremonies on February 25.

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https://www.vox.com/2018/2/25/17050070/north-korea-talk-sanctions-war-olympics