President Moon Jae-in has said North Korea's participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will make the event a festival of peace, assure the safety of the games and raise public interest.

Speaking to Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee(IPC) at the presidential office on Tuesday, Moon said the North's participation in the PyeongChang Paralympics will also serve as a new turning point to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula. 
 
Presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun cited Moon as making the remarks in a written briefing. 
 
The IPC chief said the door is open for North Korea to take part in the upcoming Olympics. 
 
He said that preliminaries still remain to win the right to compete in Pyeongchang and that even if the North fails to win the right to compete, his committee will discuss the matter with other agencies to find a way.