It seems that soon we are going to see the first Olympic Games which, despite being hosted by South Korea, will be attended by North Korean athletes. The recent agreement on Olympic issues was rather surprising: as recently as last December, Pyongyang's participation in the Olympics appeared unlikely.

For the whole of last year, the North Korean government systematically rejected all overtures by the Moon Jae-in administration: South Korean ideas about exchanges and contacts were met with a cold silence or even offensive remarks. But in early January, things changed suddenly, and we are now witnessing yet another thaw in the relations between the two Korean states.