The agreement between the United States and South Korea to delay their annual joint military exercise scheduled to take place during the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang could work to reduce the odds of a nuclear war between Washington and Pyongyang. In the wake of absurd yet dangerous messages as to whose nuclear button is bigger and whose works better, sports has come to at least temporarily save the day.

It was South Korean President Moon Jae-in who asked US President Donald Trump to delay the drill, known as Foal Eagle, so as not to increase tensions with North Korea when athletes from around the world converge on the peninsula to compete in the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month. Foal Eagle is one of the largest war games in the world and which Pyongyang traditionally considers a rehearsal for invasion. It is also the time of year that North Korea often conducts missile tests in response.

The decision to delay comes after North and South Korea expressed a new openness for high-level talks, a major breakthrough that only came about after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed hope in his New Year’s Day address that his country might participate in the Olympics.

Sports is a big deal for North Korea. It has long used sporting achievements at international events to bolster its reputation abroad. It has a long history at the Olympics, sending athletes to every Summer Olympics since 1972 except for two it boycotted. The country has won 54 medals at Summer Olympics, including 16 gold medals, with weightlifting and wrestling its most successful sports. Given the country’s small size and small gross domestic product, its performance has been relatively successful.

Perhaps surprisingly for such a mountainous country with cold winters, North Korea has performed far worse in Winter Olympics, gaining only three medals total despite competing in eight games since 1964.

The only North Korean athletes to qualify for Pyeongchang are two figure skaters. But for this pair, North Korea has launched what will be the first high-level talks both Koreas have had since December 2015. For the purpose, North Korea restored a telephone hotline at their mutual border to enable the first contact about talks to be made. While it is believed that there would be discussions related to improving South-North ties, the meeting’s priority will be the Pyeongchang Winter Games.

The presence of North Korean officials and athletes in Pyeongchang may calm jitters about potential missile tests occurring during the games, which will be held just 50 miles from the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean Peninsula. It is thought North Korea might disrupt the event in some way if it was not a part of it. Ticket sales for the Pyeongchang games have been lagging, a point some attributed to concern about the risks posed by North Korea.

Technically, North Korea has missed the deadline to send a delegation, although the International Olympic Committee has said that it considered the invitation to Pyongyang still open for the time being.

There is hope that North Korea’s participation could provide a route toward reducing tensions on the peninsula. Like former US president Richard Nixon’s “ping-pong diplomacy” - the exchange of players between the US and China in the early 1970s which marked a thaw in Sino-American relations that paved the way to a visit to Beijing by Nixon - so too, Pyeongchang could reduce tensions between the US and North Korea after Moon expressed hope that warmer North-South Korean ties could extend to a better Washington-Pyongyang relationship, reducing a nuclear mishap or overreaction.

Both Koreas have used Olympic events to make gestures toward reconciliation, even marching together under a shared flag at a number of events. Pyeongchang is just one more example of the ability of sports to unify conflicting parties.