In a Cabinet-level meeting between North and South Korea this week, the first such formal talks in more than two years, the North agreed to send a delegation to the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games that the South will host in the city of Pyeongchang starting in February. They also agreed to hold talks between defense officials of the two governments. The meeting may have given the impression that tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang are easing, at least temporarily, but no progress was made on the issue of North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles — the biggest source of regional tension.

Pyongyang is clearly trying to undermine the concerted efforts of the international community to get the regime of Kim Jong Un to give up its nuclear and missile programs through tougher sanctions. The North is hoping to drive a wedge between South Korea, on one hand, and the United States and Japan, on the other, in the tripartite effort to corner Pyongyang into ending its military ambitions and provocations. The three countries need to keep up their close coordination as they deal with North Korea so that the North-South dialogue won't be used as a cover for Pyongyang to fend off tightening pressure for its denuclearization or to buy time while it upgrades its nuclear arms and missile capabilities.

The proposal for holding Tuesday's meeting was made by Seoul in response to overtures from Pyongyang. In his New Year's Day speech, the North's Kim indicated that he would consider sending a delegation to the Pyeongchang Games, saying his country's "participation in the Winter Games will be a good opportunity to show the unity of the people." For Seoul, which wants to host a successful — and safe — Olympics, it was an enticing overture. In 1987, North Korean agents planted and detonated a bomb on a Korean Air jetliner, killing all 115 people on board, in what Seoul determined was a terrorist attack to sabotage the 1988 Seoul Olympics.