SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the United States had shown its willingness to talk with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) amid growing signs of a thaw in inter-Korean relations, Moon's spokesman said Tuesday.
Kim Eui-kyeom, spokesman for Moon, told a press briefing that the president made the remarks during the summit meeting with Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis, who came to South Korea Thursday and attended the opening ceremony of the 23rd Winter Olympics held in the country's east county of PyeongChang on Friday night.
The South Korean leader said the United States was seeing the talks between South Korea and the DPRK positively and that the U.S. side showed its intention to talk with the DPRK.
The senior-level, inter-Korean dialogue was held in January, the first such talks in over two years, in the truce village of Panmunjom, where the DPRK agreed to send its athletes and cheerleaders as well as a high-ranking delegation.
The ranking DPRK delegation, including Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, attended the ongoing Winter Olympics' opening ceremony and met with President Moon Saturday at the presidential complex of the Blue House.
As a special envoy of the DPRK leader, the younger Kim delivered the invitation to Moon to visit Pyongyang at his convenient time.
The Latvian president said it was very important for the younger Kim to make a three-day visit to South Korea as a special envoy, which he said indicated Pyongyang's message delivered to the entire world.
Moon asked the Latvian leader to send a continued support for efforts to link talks between South Korea and the DPRK to talks between the DPRK and the United States.
During the telephone conversation in January, Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump shared a possibility for inter-Korean talks naturally leading to a dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington.