A high-level North Korean delegation returned home on Tuesday after attending the PyeongChang Winter Olympics' closing ceremony.

The eight-member delegation led by Kim Yong-chol, a key official of the North's ruling party in charge of handling inter-Korean affairs, returned to the North via the inter-Korean transit office on the western border. 

South Korea's Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon and National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon held a farewell breakfast for the delegation on Tuesday.

The Unification Ministry said the two sides agreed to continue making efforts to improve inter-Korean relations and to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula. 

The North Korean chief delegate said during the stay in the South that Pyongyang is willing to hold talks with the United States.