For the past year, tensions on the Korean peninsula have been raised over a series of nuclear and ballistic missile tests conducted by Pyongyang. Its leader, Kim Jong-un, has deliberately ignored and ripped up nuclear proliferation agreements brokered by a series of United States administrations dating back to former president Bill Clinton’s time in the White House, in North Korea’s single-minded intention of obtaining a viable nuclear weapon and the ability to deliver it to a target in the continental US. This pursuit has rapidly accelerated since the advent of US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, and the regime in Pyongyang had alarmingly shunned any attempt to dissuade it or negotiate a cessation in the development of its nuclear and ballistic missile arsenal.

Until now.

For the first time in a darkening and downward spiral of events, there at last appears to be a willingness by the North to talk. And any sign of hope is a very good sign, given that it appeared as if the only way out of the crisis inevitably would end in a military confrontation. Or worse. Throughout, nations such as Japan and the Philippines had urged China to exert whatever influence it had on Kim, while Russia was also being urged to engage actively with the regime as the United Nations unveiled round after round of more aggressive and severe economic and energy sanctions on the paranoid hermit nation.

Throughout this entire episode, where cooler heads must prevail, there remained the trading of insults between both Kim and Trump, with the latter promising to rain down fire and fury on North Korea and to remove it from the map. Indeed, both leaders were eager to discuss the size of their respective nuclear buttons in a public spat that left little for psychoanalysts to deduce.

The Winter Olympics are to open in PyeongChang, South Korea, on February 9 and it appears as if Kim is now eager to allow his winter athletes to compete there. That, among other things, requires direct talks between Seoul and Pyongyang. To that end, both sides are talking. And in a more positive sign, a direct communication link has been set up to discuss border issues. Kim himself has also said that his nation has achieved its goal of having a nuclear arsenal that can reach the US. Maybe he has. Or maybe those sanctions have forced him to talk. Whatever it may be, it’s irrelevant. What matters is that this effort to initiate a dialogue must be encouraged.