Seoul, Feb 27 (IANS): The high-level North Korean delegation that visited South Korea to attend the closing ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics returned home on Tuesday after expressing Pyongyang's willingness to hold talks with the US.

The eight-member team led by General Kim Yong-Chol crossed the border at around midday, according to a statement by the South Korean Unification Ministry.

The group ended a three-day visit to the South in which it repeatedly expressed its willingness to talk with the US, reports Efe news.

The journey of the North Korean delegation to the South was part of the "Olympic thaw" between the two Koreas which, during the recently concluded PyeongChang Games, have made their greatest rapprochement in years.

Seoul is convinced that improving relations with its neighbour, with which it technically has been at war for 65 years, can enable Pyongyang and Washington to discuss the North Korean nuclear programme after 2017 was marked by repeated weapons tests by North Korea and exchanges of verbal threats.