North Korea just agreed to go on a date with South Korea — by fax

North Korea accepted an offer from Seoul Friday to hold talks on Jan. 9 — the first high-level dialogue between the adversaries in more than two years.

Despite North Korea reconnecting the hotline to the South earlier this week, the confirmation came via fax. Talks will focus on the participation of North Korean athletes in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February, as well as “discussions related to improving South-North ties,” a government official told the Yonhap news agency.

The meeting will take place in Peace House located in the shared border village of Panmunjom, which straddles the demilitarized zone.

South Korea made the offer after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used his New Year’s Day speech so indicate he was open to sending a group to the Games.

The breakthrough came hours after the U.S. and South Korea announced a suspension of joint military exercises in the region until after the Olympics.

Kim has railed against the annual exercises, calling them a rehearsal for invasion.

U.S. President Donald Trump undercut the possibility of North-South dialogue earlier this week, taunting Kim with a tweet about the size of his nuclear button. U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, was also dismissive, saying talks are a waste of time without a commitment from Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear arsenal.

Trump later sought to take credit for the thaw in tensions:

Despite Trump’s fixation on Kim and his regime, the U.S. will watch from afar next week as the Peninsula takes its first steps towards rapprochement.

Kim could be trying to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul, analysts warn, but former U.S. negotiators Robert Carlin and Joel Wit believe the talks are genuine.

Writing for 38 North, the negotiators said North Korea’s statement on reopening lines of communications “makes it clear that this is the gold standard when it comes to North Korean initiatives. It is very serious.”

Anthony Ruggiero, a former official at the Treasury, said the White House has done the one thing it said it never would, and given ground to North Korea with nothing in return: