Kim Jong-un has made the first step in trying to bury the hatchet with the US by saying he was open to talks.

After months of tension with the North Korean leader showing off his nuclear prowess and President Trump showing he would take no nonsense from Kim, the first sign of peace was revealed in Pyeongchang on Sunday.

Kim's group of lackeys who are in South Korea for the closing of the Winter Olympics, told the country's leader that North Korea was ready for talks.

Kim Jong-un says he is ready to hold talks with the US as Ivanka Trump was pictured with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in (right) North Korean General Kim Yong Chol (back right) in Pyeongchang on Sunday

The offer came as a huge surprise as Kim had been digging his heels in and continuing his campaign against the US with a number of angry threats.

Washington had also imposed fresh sanctions on Friday, with Donald Trump describing them as the heaviest ever.

Pyongyang denounced them on Sunday just as South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a secret meeting with Kim's delegation in Pyeongchang.

The disclosure that the peace moves were on offer came after his meeting with North Korean General Kim Yong Chol.

President Moon was keen to stress that improvements in relations between the US and North Korea should run alongside a developing relationship between his country and his neighbors North Korea.

All this came as a president's daughter Ivanka went on a handshaking diplomatic spree around the games, although she carefully avoided the North Korean delegation.

The disclosure that the peace moves were on offer came as Ivanka Trump went on a handshaking diplomatic spree around the games. She is pictured above sitting in front of Kim Yong Chol of the North Korea delegation

The offer came as a huge surprise as Kim Jong-un had been digging his heels in and continuing his campaign against the US with a number of angry threats

South Korea's presidential office released a brief statement saying that Pyongyang had expressed willingness to hold talks with Washington.

The North has 'ample intentions of holding talks with the United States,' according to the office. The North's delegation also agreed that 'South-North relations and U.S.-North Korean relations should be improved together,' Moon's office, known as the Blue House, said.

Senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, Moon Jae-in and Ivanka Trump sat in two rows of seats behind the Olympic rings during the Olympic closing ceremony on Sunday.

Trump and Kim did not appear to communicate.

The development was particularly striking given that Kim Yong Chol, now vice chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, is suspected of masterminding a lethal 2010 military attack on the South.

More than 200 anti-Pyongyang protesters, waving South Korean and U.S. flags, banging drums and holding signs like 'Killer Kim Yong Chol go to hell,' rallied in streets near the park.

They denounced the South Korean government's decision to allow the visit. There were no major clashes.

Athletes from North Korea and South Korea during the closing ceremony in Pyeongchang on Sunday