North Korea issued a rare announcement asking all Koreans to work towards a “breakthrough” in efforts to reunify with the South.

The call from Pyongyang continued a thaw in relations following months of mounting tension on the Korean Peninsula.

It urged “all Koreans at home and abroad” to “promote contact, travel, cooperation between North and South Korea”.

After repeatedly testing ballistic missiles and threatening to annihilate its neighbours in recent months, the North Korean regime has extended an olive branch by agreeing to send athletes to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Pyeonchang, South Korea.

The first North Korean athletes crossed the border on Thursday morning to begin training ahead of the 9 February Games.

South Korea's recently elevated President Moon Jae-in has championed closer relations with North Korea and has called the games an “epoch-making opportunity to improve inter-Korean relations and establish peace”.

Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb Show all 6 1 /6 Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb Photos released by North Korea show Kim Jong-un talking to subordinates next to a device thought to be the new thermonuclear weapon. There is no way of independently verifying the pictures STR/AFP/Getty Images Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb North Korea claims it has successfully tested an advanced hydrogen bomb which could be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile AFP/Getty Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb A diagram on the wall behind Mr Kim shows a bomb mounted inside a cone STR/AFP/Getty Images Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) attending a photo session with participants of the fourth conference of active secretaries of primary organisations of the youth league of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in Pyongyang STR/AFP/Getty Images Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb A new stamp issued in commemoration of the successful second test launch of the "Hwasong-14" intercontinental ballistic missile KCNA via Reuters Kim Jong-un inspects weapon North Korea says is powerful hydrogen bomb A new stamp issued in commemoration of the successful second test launch of the "Hwasong-14" intercontinental ballistic missile KCNA via Reuters

In its announcement, North Korea vowed to “smash” impediments to reunifying the Korean Peninsula and called military tension a “fundamental obstacle”.

It also decried military drills conducted with “outside forces”, a reference to joint exercises with the United States that North Korea views as provocations.