'LGBTQ landmark': Tokyo opens Olympics Pride House

Yahoo – AFP, Kyoko Hasegawa, October 11, 2020

LGBTQ rights campaigners in Japan are hoping that Pride House Tokyo will
help tackle stigma and raise awareness of discrimination 

Tokyo on Sunday opened its first major community hub for LGBTQ people, part of a pre-Olympics project that campaigners hope will tackle stigma and raise awareness of discrimination. 

Pride House Tokyo is based on similar inclusive pop-up sites set up at past Olympics, but will offer a permanent meeting space and information centre, seeking to educate the public about sexual diversity and offer refuge to those suffering harassment or discrimination. 

While Japan has some protections for sexual minorities, it remains the only G7 country that does not recognise same-sex unions, and many couples say they can struggle to rent apartments together and are even barred from hospital visits. 

Those challenges mean spaces like Pride House, set up in coordination with Tokyo 2020 Olympic organisers, are sorely needed in Japan, activists say. 

"Japan, not just in sporting circles but society as a whole -- including schools and workplaces -- is not friendly to LGBTQ people, and it is hard to come out," Gon Matsunaka, who heads the project behind Pride House, told AFP. 

While the centre is being set up under a recent Olympic tradition, the project is officially named "Pride House Tokyo Legacy", and activists hope its influence will extend beyond the Games.

The venue "will be a landmark that could change the landscape for LGBTQ people in Japanese society," Matsunaka said. 

The International Olympic Committee echoed hopes for a lasting legacy. 

"In sport, we are all equal," IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement released Sunday. 

Gon Matsunaka, founder and president of the Pride House Tokyo Consortium,
says the venue will be 'landmark' for LGBTQ people in Japan

"We therefore welcome that Tokyo 2020 has embedded diversity and inclusion in the Olympic Games model," he said, wishing "the Pride House Tokyo success". 

'Unthinkable to come out'  

The first Pride House -- inspired by the tradition of Olympic hospitality centres for national teams -- was launched at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. 

Temporary venues have since appeared at London 2012 and Rio 2016, and at other international sporting events like the Commonwealth Games. 

In 2014, Russian authorities denied a request to open a Pride House at the Sochi Winter Games, the organisation said. Instead, remote spaces were set up internationally for LGBTQ fans to gather. 

Those involved in setting up the Tokyo Pride House include Fumino Sugiyama, a former athlete who was on the national women's fencing team before coming out as a transgender man. 

"When I was fencing, it was unthinkable to come out in the sports community, which was particularly homophobic," said Sugiyama, 39. 

"I faced a dilemma between trying to do the sport I love, where I can't be myself, or trying to be myself and having to stop fencing," he said. 

While there are now several openly gay top sportspeople worldwide, from US women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe to British Olympic diver Tom Daley, "not a single top athlete has come out" in Japan, he said. 

The international Olympic Committee has wished Pride House Tokyo
success, saying: 'In sport, we are all equal'

The International Olympic Committee has wished Pride House Tokyo success, saying: 'In sport, we are all equal'

Some local governments, employers and universities in Japan have taken gradual steps in recent years to expand protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens. 

In some cities, local districts recognise same-sex partnerships, and some employers and universities have specific protections against discrimination. 

'Growing number of allies' 

"Society has changed a lot, with a growing number of allies," Sugiyama said. 

"But there remains the fundamental issue of the lack of a legal system to ensure LGBTQ rights in Japan, for example, the right to get married." 

There is no widespread religious stigma against homosexuality in Japan, and some popular celebrities and TV personalities are openly gay. 

And activists have launched several legal challenges recently intended to expand rights for the community, including suits last year accusing the government of discrimination for failing to recognise same-sex unions. 

But success is not guaranteed. 

In 2019, the Supreme Court upheld strict rules on changing gender on legal documents including a requirement that a transgender person have no reproductive capacity, which can effectively force some to undergo sterilsation to change their documents. 

Sugiyama said it would be important for Pride House, in Tokyo's lively Shinjuku area which has a well-known gay district, to stay open beyond the Olympics. 

"LGBTQ people face various issues," he said. "Small and big, 24 hours, 365 days a year."

Kimia Alizadeh: Iran's top female athlete defects

DW, 12 January 2020

Iran's only female Olympic medallist, Kimia Alizadeh, has said she has left the country permanently following accusations of mistreatment and sexism against officials. The 21-year-old is reportedly in the Netherlands.

Kimia Alizadeh | 2016 Rio Olympics - Taekwondo (Reuters/I. Kato)

Amid rising unrest in Iran following the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian plane and simmering tensions with the USA, Iran's only female Olympic medallist, Taekwondo athlete Kimia Alizadeh, has announced that she has defected.

In an Instagram post on Sunday, the 21-year-old said she didn't want to be a part of "hypocrisy, lies, injustice and flattery" as "one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran".

"I wore whatever they told me and repeated whatever they ordered. Every sentence they ordered I repeated. None of us matter for them, we are just tools," she added.

Alizadeh, who made history when she won bronze in Taekwondo at the Rio Olympics as an 18-year-old, is believed to be training in the Netherlands, according to Iran's ISNA news agency.

She has claimed in the past that the Islamic Republic has used her as a propaganda tool and accused Iranian officials of sexism and mistreatment.

The ISNA agency reported that Alizadeh is hoping to still compete at the Tokyo Olympics later this year, but not under the Iranian flag.

Iranian students demonstrated following a tribute for victims of
Wednesday's plane crash (AFP Photo/Atta KENARE)

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Iran agrees de-escalation 'only solution' to solve crisis with US

Two Koreas march together as Asian Games burst into life

Yahoo – AFP, Faisal KAMAL, August 18, 2018

The two Koreas also marched together at this year's Pyeongchang Winter
Olympics opening ceremony. (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

North and South Korea marched together in a stirring display of unity as the Asian Games, one of the world's biggest sports events, opened in a blaze of colour in Jakarta on Saturday.

South Korean women's basketball player Lim Yung-hui and North Korean footballer Ju Kyong-chol jointly held the Korean Unification flag aloft as they led the athletes out to an ovation from the packed crowd.

It is the second such symbolic gesture this year by the two Koreas, who also walked together at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics opening ceremony -- an event that heralded an unprecedented warming of ties.

The North and South, still technically at war, are joining forces in women's basketball, canoeing and rowing during the 40-sport, two-week regional Olympics in the Indonesian capital and Palembang, a port city on Sumatra island.

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon and North Korean Deputy Prime Minister Ri Ryong-nam, watching from the VIP seats, rose together holding hands and beaming as the Korean athletes marched.

The ceremony opened with a skit purportedly showing President Joko Widodo doing stunts on a motorbike in Jakarta's streets before riding into the Gelora Bung Karno stadium, to roars from the crowd.

About 1,500 dancers in traditional dress then performed a tightly choreographed routine before Afghanistan led the athletes' parade into the stadium.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared the Games open. (AFP 

Photo/Jewel SAMAD)

There were huge cheers when the two Koreas, whose athletes together number about 1,000, marched into the stadium together wearing pristine white and blue uniforms.

'You can feel proud'

Widodo was then seen dancing in his seat as Indonesian singer Via Vallen took to the stage, before the stadium fell silent to honour the victims of the recent Lombok earthquake.

"You can feel proud of your home country Indonesia," said Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, president of the Olympic Council of Asia, before Widodo declared the Games open.

Indonesian badminton great Susi Susanti, the women's singles Olympic champion in 1992, lit the Games cauldron and the ceremony closed with a noisy music performance and spectacular fireworks.

It provided a vibrant start to the Games, whose build-up has been dogged by logistical headaches and security fears after Indonesia suffered its deadliest terror attack in a decade in May.

The sprawling archipelago has also been grappling with its latest earthquake disaster after strong tremors in Lombok, an eastern island, left more than 400 people dead.

Indonesia, a country of about 270 million, stepped in to host the Games at short notice after Vietnam pulled out, citing the event's eye-watering costs.

Indonesia is hosting one of the world's biggest sporting events. (AFP 

Photo/BAY ISMOYO)

Indonesia has a poor track record in hosting multi-sports events -- the 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang suffered serious corruption problems and delays, and two people died in a stadium stampede.

Rights group Amnesty International said at least 31 people were killed in a "shoot first and ask questions later" police crackdown on petty crime.

But officials say all venues are ready for competition and tournament-related problems so far have been relatively minor, from the ticket website crashing to misspelt words on signs.

About 18,000 athletes and officials from 45 Asian countries will be at the Asiad, organisers said, looking to make their mark across a range of sports from swimming to sepak takraw and bridge.

The Asian Games encompass nearly the full Olympic programme and are considered the pinnacle by many participating nations, for whom Olympic success often proves elusive.

Indonesia is about to open the #AsianGames but its traffic-clogged capital Jakarta remains shrouded in a toxic haze of air pollution, despite drastic efforts to cut down on congestion https://t.co/ukFXJoXVIl pic.twitter.com/qVoOaPt9LO

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 17, 2018

Related Article:

Science & Spiritually Conference 2018, BC – Canada (4), June 16-17, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Predictions - Text version) - New 

"The second thing I told you about was this: There's a 50% chance that the new leader of North Korea, the son, would not follow in the footsteps of his father. I told you there was a 50% chance of this. Then I started itemizing the reasoning why this might make sense, especially to the Korean leader. I then told you it might take a long time if it manifested at all. I told you the problems would be within the old advisors for his father's family. He had to tread slowly and lightly to do something against all odds. This will all come out someday because of the handshake.

Here was the potential or the prediction of what might happen: Those who had the machine guns in the DM zone would drop them, because this North Korean leader would unify the two Koreas. There would be no nuclear weapons in his land and there would be the beginning of abundance for his people. His people and the world would then give him something he had always wanted and was imbued with from birth - the desire for accolades and more accolades. Like his father before him, he was the premier egotist, and this would be the unexpected way to create a world at his feet. That's what I said. Then I said, "Watch for it, but don't be anxious." I talked about that in 2013, and five more times since then. In August 2017, I itemized my advice for him, point by point. The advice that I gave followed the potentials that were there and those were the very points in the handshake this week in June of 2018.

Now, you tell me what happened. "Kryon, you're going to be famous because you predicted these things!" Dear ones, all I did was look into a field that is being shown to you today [by the scientists at the conference]. And all I did was to show you the potentials that were already there. In other words, he was thinking about these things and talking to others behind the scenes about them. No matter what his advisors told him right up to the brink of sending his missiles, he was always thinking that there might be another way that would gain him ultimate fame. Dear ones, this has been in progress since his father died! Therefore, it was in the field, but not a given, dear ones - a potential.

Next, I want to show you the bias of humanity at this time, something I have spoken of many times. This potential of the handshake is amazing, and it has started to be manifested. What should the reaction be to something that deflects the potential of war, or saves thousands lives? Instead of joy or amazement or celebration, Humans go for the reverse: It can't happen. It's a trick. It's a bad deal.

I want you to start reading the reactions of the press. I want you to read the reactions even from the South Koreans. They said, "Well, we know North Koreans, and that's never going to happen. We know who they are, and we know their nature. Because in the past, they never performed what they said they would. So it's a joke." That is a quote from a South Korean. "It's a joke."

What happened to this comment? "Isn't this a beautiful potential? Look at this amazing thing - against all odds!" Now, your free press, the reporting segment of our culture, has decided not only to report it, but to let you know it's probably not going to happen! They say: "Nay. Maybe yes, maybe no. We'll see. We expect the worse." And this continues and continues, and all it shows you is the monstrous bias of the dark side that wants to pull anything good back to what the past gave to you."

Japan's Olympic golf venue admits first female members

Yahoo – AFP, May 11, 2018

The upscale Kasumigaseki Country Club near Tokyo has upgraded three women
 to full membership after agreeing last year to admit female members, following
criticism from the International Olympic Committee (AFP Photo/TORU YAMANAKA)

Tokyo (AFP) - Japan's golf venue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has granted full membership to women for the first time, after lifting a ban under pressure from Games authorities.

The upscale Kasumigaseki Country Club told AFP it had upgraded three women to full membership after agreeing last year to admit female members, following criticism from the International Olympic Committee.

"After the change of the rules, we asked members including men if they want to have full membership, and three women wanted to change their status to full membership," club general manager Hiroshi Imaizumi said.

The board of the club -- where Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe played with US President Donald Trump in November -- this week approved the requests after receiving no complaints or opposition from other members, he said.

Until last year, the private club in Japan's Saitama region had women on its roster but they were not allowed to become full members and could not play on certain Sundays -- restrictions that did not apply to male members.

The club has around 200 female associate members who are either relatives of male full-fledged members, or "weekday members" who are barred from playing on Sundays.

After being selected as a host venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the club came under pressure to change its rules, with IOC chief Thomas Bach threatening to take the golf competition elsewhere and asking the club to choose "non-discrimination".

Tokyo's female governor Yuriko Koike also complained about the ban, saying she felt "extreme discomfort" at the fact women were prevented from full membership.

Imaizumi said the club had two female full members about four decades ago, but that the ban on women was introduced several years later for reasons unknown.

The decision to lift the ban "is the trend of the time", he said.

It came after Scotland's prestigious Muirfield golf club last year voted to allow women members, ditching a ban that had been in place for 273 years.

North, South Korea seek peace, denuclearisation in historic summit

Yahoo  - AFP, Sunghee Hwang,  April 27, 2018

The leaders of the two Koreas were in a jubilant mood after the successful
summit (AFP Photo/Korea Summit Press Pool)

The leaders of North and South Korea agreed on Friday to pursue a permanent peace treaty and the complete denuclearisation of their divided peninsula at a historic summit laden with symbolism.

The North's leader Kim Jong Un and the South's President Moon Jae-in embraced after signing what they called the Panmunjom Declaration, following a day that began with an emotional handshake over the Military Demarcation Line that splits their countries.

The pair issued a statement confirming their "common goal of realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean peninsula".

They agreed they would seek a permanent end to the Korean War this year, 65 years after hostilities ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Moon would visit Pyongyang in "the fall", the two leaders said, pledging to hold "regular meetings and direct telephone conversations".

But Kim did not mention denuclearisation and analysts warned that while the summit was a good first step, similar promises had been made before and much remained to be done to resolve the issue of the North's atomic arsenal.

The leaders of the two Koreas were in a jubilant mood after the 

successful summit (AFP Photo/Laurence CHU)

In coming weeks, Kim is due to hold a much-anticipated meeting with US President Donald Trump -- who has demanded Pyongyang give up its weapons -- that will be crucial in shaping progress.

Trump hailed the Korea summit as historic, but warned "only time will tell".

He told reporters he would not be "played" by the North's leader at their upcoming meeting, with "two countries" now in the running to host the summit.

Trump also implicitly claimed credit for the Korean meeting, tweeting: "KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!"

But he also offered a nod to his "good friend", Chinese President Xi Jinping, who had provided "great help".

'Filled with emotion'

The Panmunjom Declaration capped an extraordinary day, unthinkable only months ago as the nuclear-armed North carried out a series of missile launches and its sixth atomic blast.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in held 

a warm embrace near the end of their historic summit (AFP Photo/Korea Summit 

Press Pool)

Kim and Trump had traded personal insults and threats of war, sending tensions soaring before Moon seized on the Winter Olympics to broker dialogue, beginning a dizzying whirl of diplomacy that led to Friday's meeting in the Demilitarized Zone.

Kim said he was "filled with emotion" after stepping over the concrete blocks that mark the border, making him the first Northern leader to set foot in the South since the Korean War ceasefire in 1953.

At his impromptu invitation, the two men briefly crossed hand-in-hand into the North before beginning the summit, only the third of its kind.

During another symbolic gesture, the two men took part in the ceremonial planting of a pine tree.

It was a far cry from the last tree-related operation Moon was on duty for in the DMZ -- a monumental show of force after North Korean soldiers killed two US officers trying to prune a poplar in 1976, when he was a special forces soldier.

'Heart-wrenching division'

The truce village of Panmunjom was the "symbol of heart-wrenching division", Kim said, but if it became "a symbol of peace, the North and South that have one blood, one language, one history and one culture, will return to becoming one".

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un walks with President Moon Jae-in after 

crossing into South Korea for an official summit at Peace House (AFP Photo/

Korea Summit Press Pool)

He pledged the two Koreas would ensure they did not "repeat the unfortunate history in which past inter-Korea agreements... fizzled out after beginning".

In the declaration, the two sides said they would seek meetings this year with the US and possibly China -- both parties to the 1953 ceasefire -- "with a view to declaring an end to the war, turning the armistice into a peace treaty, and establishing a permanent and solid peace regime".

But agreeing a treaty to formally close the conflict will be complicated -- both Seoul and Pyongyang claim sovereignty over the whole Korean peninsula.

The two previous Korean summits in 2000 and 2007, both in Pyongyang, also ended with displays of affection and similar pledges, but the agreements ultimately came to naught.

'First step'

Moon welcomed the North's announcement of a moratorium on nuclear testing and long-range missile launches as "very significant", calling it "an important step towards complete denuclearisation".

But how much progress was made on the nuclear issue remained unclear.

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in (2nd R) said the North's moratorium on
nuclear and long-range missile tests is "very significant" (AFP Photo/Korea
Summit Press Pool)

Pyongyang has always insisted it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself against a US invasion, and is demanding still unspecified security guarantees to discuss its arsenal, while Washington is pressing it to give up its weapons in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

Affirming a commitment to denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula was "not new", said MIT political science professor Vipin Narang, "historic summit notwithstanding".

But he added: "Reaffirming it is better than not reaffirming it."

Paul Haenle of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center in Beijing said it was "really just the first step in broader diplomatic efforts".

"Similar to a game of chess, this move opens up a series of possible developments but in many ways, the hard work really begins now."

After an early dispatch saying Kim was heading for the summit, the North's state media offered no further coverage of events, even as the leaders' handshake was beamed around the world.

But at a farewell ceremony, the two men watched images of their landmark encounter beamed onto the summit venue in a sound-and-light show, standing hand-in-hand for several minutes.

VIDEO: The inter-Korean summit has thrown up many memorable images, including those that highlight a certain chemistry between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South's President Moon Jae-in pic.twitter.com/xMyGjNjuut

— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 27, 2018

Tributes to 'inspiration' Hawking as curtain falls on Paralympics

Yahoo – AFP, Sam Reeves, Mar 18, 2018

Fireworks erupt during the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter
Paralympic Games (AFP Photo/JUNG Yeon-Je)

Pyeongchang (South Korea) (AFP) - The Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics closed Sunday with a dazzling ceremony featuring light shows, dancing and music, as well as tributes to late wheelchair-bound British physicist Stephen Hawking as an "inspiration".

Nine days of sporting action ended earlier in the day with a flurry of events, including victory for the United States in a hard-fought sledge hockey final, helping them to top the medals table with 36 overall.

North Korea's athletes, who made their country's Winter Paralympics debut in Pyeongchang, were absent from the closing ceremony after heading home early, but it was a minor sticking point after the rapid inter-Korean thaw of recent weeks.

With thousands packing out the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium, International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons used his closing address to pay tribute to Hawking, who died last week aged 76.

The scientist is seen as an inspiration by Paralympians. He never let his acute physical disability stop him from pursuing his dreams, and is fondly remembered for opening the London 2012 Games.

Parsons hailed him as "a genius of a man, a pioneer and inspiration to us all".

Artists perform during the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang 2018 

Winter Paralympic Games (AFP Photo/JUNG Yeon-Je)

"While Hawking tested the limits of his imagination, Paralympians, you have once again pushed the boundaries of human endeavour," he said.

"Your logic-defying performances have focused the world not on what holds you back, but on what motivates you and pushes you forward."

Hawking developed a form of motor neurone disease in his 20s that left him confined to a wheelchair, almost completely paralysed and only able to speak through a voice synthesiser.

But his disability did not stop him pursuing his ambition of unlocking the secrets of the Universe, and his best-selling book "A Brief History of Time" made him a household name.

In a memorable speech at the opening of the 2012 Games, Hawking urged Paralympians to "look up at the stars and not down at your feet".

Triumph over adversity

Athletes carried their countries' flags into the stadium at the closing ceremony but North Korea's was brought in by a Games volunteer, after Pyongyang's delegation headed home a few days ago.

Pyongyang sent two novice sit-skiers to the Games and they finished at or near the back of their two events, but were still welcomed by South Korean fans delighted at the latest sign of detente on the Korean peninsula.

USA's Declan Farmer (L) and Canada's Greg Westlake (R) fight for the puck 

in the ice hockey gold medal game (AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-je)

The rapprochement began at last month's Winter Olympics, when the North sent 22 athletes to the Games and the two Koreas marched under a united flag at the opening ceremony.

The North's presence at the Paralympics was low-key compared to the Olympics -- as well as leaving before the end, the North did not march with the South at the opening.

Sunday's closing ceremony included traditional Korean music and dancing, and also modern rock and pop, with K-pop star Ailee among the performers.

There were also disabled performers, including a dancer with a hearing impairment and a wheelchair-bound dancer.

Towards the end of the ceremony, the Paralympic flag was hauled down and handed to the mayor of Beijing -- which will host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

In a fitting finale to the Games' high-octane sporting action, the USA earlier Sunday beat Canada 2-1 with a dramatic goal in overtime to defend their Paralympic sledge hockey title.

It brought Team USA's gold medal haul to 13.

Russian athletes -- competing as neutrals after their country was banned due to a doping scandal -- picked up eight gold medals, second-highest after the USA and tied with Canada.

The Winter Paralympics broke records for ticket sales, which topped 340,000, as well as for the number of athletes competing at 567.

There were numerous tales of triumph over adversity.

Dutch snowboarder Bibian Mentel-Spee won two gold medals despite having had cancer surgery twice in recent months. American skier Oksana Masters -- born with multiple birth defects due to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster -- also won double gold.

British scientist Stephen Hawking's 1988 book "A Brief History of Time" became
 an unlikely worldwide bestseller and cemented his superstar status, dedicated his
life to unlocking the secrets of the Universe

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British scientist Stephen Hawking dead at age 76

South Korean envoys in historic trip to North, meet Kim

Yahoo – AFP, Sunghee Hwang, March 5, 2018

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has sought to use the Pyeongchang
Games to open dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang (AFP Photo)

Seoul (AFP) - The most senior South Koreans to travel to North Korea for more than a decade met leader Kim Jong Un Monday, a Seoul official said, the latest step in an Olympics-driven rapprochement on the divided peninsula.

The delegation, representing the South's President Moon Jae-in, is pushing for talks between the nuclear-armed regime and the United States, after Kim sent his sister Kim Yo Jong to the Winter Games in the South.

"Chairman Kim Jong Un is currently hosting a dinner for the special envoys," Moon's spokesman told a press briefing Monday evening, Yonhap news agency reported.

Kim Yo Jong's trip was the first visit to the South by a member of the North's ruling dynasty since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, and her appearance at the Games' opening ceremony -- where athletes from the two Koreas marched together -- made global headlines.

Moon has sought to use the Pyeongchang Games to open dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang in hopes of easing a nuclear standoff that has heightened fears over global security.

In Seoul, Kim Yo Jong invited him to a summit in Pyongyang on her brother's behalf. But Moon did not immediately accept, saying the right conditions were necessary first.

Before leaving for Pyongyang, the South's national security advisor Chung Eui-yong said: "We plan to hold in-depth discussions for ways to continue not only inter-Korean talks but dialogue between North Korea and the international community including the United States."

It is a challenging task -- in defiance of UN sanctions, the isolated and impoverished North last year staged its most powerful nuclear test and test-fired several missiles, some of them capable of reaching the US mainland.

US President Donald Trump dubbed Kim "Little Rocket Man" and boasted about the size of his own nuclear button, while the North Korean leader called Trump a "mentally deranged US dotard".

They traded threats of war and sent tensions soaring before a thaw in the run-up to the Winter Olympics.

"We will deliver President Moon's firm resolution to denuclearise the Korean peninsula and to create sincere and lasting peace," delegation leader Chung told reporters.

Chung is one of five senior officials who flew to Pyongyang on Monday.

It was the first ministerial-level South Korean visit to the North since December 2007, when Seoul's then-intelligence chief travelled to Pyongyang.

Conservative Lee Myung-bak was elected the South's president the following day and took a markedly harder line on relations with the North.

Washington connection

Monday's delegation included spy chief Suh Hoon, who is a veteran in dealings with the North. He is known to have been deeply involved in negotiations to arrange two previous inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency also announced their impending visit in a one-paragraph dispatch.

The 10-member group -- five top delegates and five supporting officials -- will return to Seoul on Tuesday.

Other members include Suh's deputy at the National Intelligence Service as well as Chun Hae-sung, the vice minister in Seoul's unification ministry which handles cross-border affairs.

The delegation will fly to the US on Wednesday to explain the result of the two-day trip to officials in Washington, according to the South's presidential office.

Moon, who advocates dialogue with the North's nuclear-armed regime, said last week that Washington needs to "lower the threshold for talks" with Pyongyang.

But the US has ruled out any possibility of talks before the North takes steps towards denuclearisation, and imposed what Trump hailed as the "toughest ever" sanctions on Kim's regime late last month.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shakes hands with South Korean chief delegate Chung Eui-yong in Pyongyang pic.twitter.com/w0FtgJd7zA

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 6, 2018

China urges North and South Korea to "seize the current opportunity" to denuclearise peninsula at historic summit https://t.co/2P8JD15lKT pic.twitter.com/3Y0FQNcAOG

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 7, 2018