North and South Korea hold rare talks

Senior officials from the rival Koreas said Tuesday they would try to achieve a breakthrough in their long-strained ties as they sat for rare talks at their border. They're discussing how to cooperate in next month's Winter Olympics in the South.

The talks in the border village of Panmunjom were arranged after North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un recently made an abrupt push for improved ties with South Korea and are closely watched by the outside world after a year of elevated tensions over North Korea's expanding nuclear and missile programs.

Critics of the meeting say Kim may be trying to divide Seoul and Washington to weaken international pressure and sanctions, which were toughened after his country conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test and test-launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles.

President Donald Trump on Saturday expressed hope for some progress from the talks and said he was open to talking with Kim himself. But U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley later said the U.S. administration isn't changing its conditions regarding talks with North Korea, saying Kim would first need to stop weapons testing for a "significant amount of time."