The religious groups of the two Koreas have exchanged congratulatory messages for the March 1 Independence Movement Day for the first time amid a growing mood of detente driven by the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

(Yonhap)
The South's Celebratory Committee of the March 1 Independence Movement said Wednesday it exchanged statements with a religious coalition of the North. The messages will be read out, during the anniversary events for the 1919 anti-Japan movement, in Seoul and Pyongyang on Thursday. 

The North Korean statement stressed the need for the two Koreas to unite to pave the way toward the reunification of the peninsula, the committee said. (Yonhap)