In the bleak world of North Korea news, optimism is in short supply. But the ongoing inter-Korean talks regarding the DPRK’s participation in the Olympics are genuinely heartening because they have thrown a monkey wrench into the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign and slowed the march toward war. It remains to be seen whether this Olympic detente will expand into something larger, potentially even talks with the United States, but for the time being, the world can breathe a sigh of relief.

The talks at Panmunjom, the “truce village” at the demilitarized zone, almost instantly resulted in the reopening of a military-to-military hotline between the North and South, and both countries have now agreed to march under a single flag at the opening ceremony of the games. It appears the DPRK will compete in five sports at Pyeongchang and also send an extensive arts delegation, including a 230-person cheer squad, the 140-strong Samjiyon Band, and a taekwondo demonstration team. With negotiations still underway, others may come south as well.

The thaw in relations is largely the result of efforts by South Korean president Moon Jae-in, who successfully petitioned the United States to push back the countries’ annual joint military exercises until after the Olympics. The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle operations, which involve hundreds of thousands of troops and provocative “decapitation raids,” are a source of annual tension on the Korean peninsula. The DPRK has long denounced them as rehearsals for invasion, an assessment that seems far less extreme these days given open talk of military action in Washington.