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SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea, South Korea, and United Nations Command on Tuesday held their first three-party talks to discuss the demilitarization of the border as the two Koreas push for peace, the ministry said. of the Seoul Defense.
PHOTO FILE: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in discuss during a walk to Samjiyon Guesthouse in Ryanggang Province, North Korea, September 20, 2018. The Body release of Pyeongyang / Pool via REUTERS
The two Koreas agreed at the Pyongyang summit last month to hold a tripartite consultation with the UNC, which overlaps with US forces in the south and oversees affairs in the DMZ, to facilitate their disarmament plan of one of the most countries in the world. fortified borders.
The agreement includes the suspension of military exercises, the creation of a no-fly zone near the border and the gradual elimination of anti-personnel mines and guard posts in the demilitarized zone.
The in camera meeting was held in the border village of Panmunjom and was led by colonel level military officials on each side, the ministry said in a statement.
As a first step, the two Koreas seek to build 11 guard posts within a radius of 1 km around the military demarcation line by the end of the year.
They began mine clearance in several small areas this month and will build roads to facilitate a pilot project planned for April to search the remains of soldiers who disappeared from the 1950-53 Korean War.
The two parties will also remove all firearms from the JSA in Panmunjom, reduce to 35 personnel stationed in this area, in accordance with the armistice agreement, and will share the information. relating to their monitoring equipment.
Tourists on both sides and overseas will be allowed to come and go freely within the JSA.
The measures, designed to last a month, would turn the border into a "place of peace and reconciliation," the ministry said.
"Most of the operations will actually be carried out by the two Koreas, but the support of the UNC counts, because it counts American elements and also manages the Military Armistice Commission," said a southern military source. Korean under the guise of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the problem. .
The two Koreas agreed on Monday to begin reconnecting rail and road links despite US concerns about the North-South quick thaw that could undermine efforts to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.
North Korea and the rich and democratic South are technically still at war because the Korean War ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.
Report by Hyonhee Shin and Joyce Lee; edited by Stephen Coates
