SEOUL // North and South Korea reached agreement early on Tuesday after more than two days of talks to end a stand-off involving an exchange of artillery fire that had pushed the divided peninsula into a state of heightened military tension.
Under the accord reached Tuesday morning, North Korea expressed regret over the recent wounding of South Korean soldiers in a landmine incident and Seoul agreed to halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts.
North Korea also agreed to end the “quasi state of war” it had declared. The two sides will hold follow-up talks to discuss a range of issues on improving ties, the joint statement said.
“It is very meaningful that from this meeting North Korea apologised for the landmine provocation and promised to work to prevent the recurrence of such events and ease tensions,” said Kim Kwan-jin, national security adviser to the South Korean president.
Pyongyang has previously denied laying the landmines, and in the statement did not explicitly take responsibility for them.
The marathon talks at the Panmunjom truce village inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas began on Saturday, shortly after Pyongyang’s deadline for the South to halt its propaganda broadcasts or face military action.
Seoul and Pyongyang have remained technically in a state of war since the 1950-53 Korean war ended in a truce, rather than a peace treaty.
The recent escalation in tensions began early this month, when landmine explosions in the DMZ wounded two South Korean soldiers. Days later, the South began blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda from loudspeakers along the border.
The stand-off reached a crisis point on Thursday when the North fired four shells into the South, according to Seoul, which responded with a barrage of artillery fire. Neither side reported casualties.
Pyongyang then made its ultimatum that Seoul halt the broadcasts by Saturday afternoon or face military action, but on that day the two sides agreed to hold talks between top level aides to the leaders of the two countries.
On Monday, South Korea’s president Park Geun-hye vowed “no retreat” in a tense military stand-off with the North, and insisted that Pyongyang should apologise. Ms Park has maintained a strong line on not appeasing North Korea since she came to office in 2013. The crisis has been viewed with concern by neighbouring countries, with China and Japan calling for restraint and UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon urging both sides to “redouble” their efforts to reach a compromise.
The United States, which has 30,000 troops permanently stationed in South Korea, has pledged its commitment to the defence of its Asian ally. Seoul and Washington are reviewing the possible deployment of “strategic US military assets” on the peninsula, the South Korean defence ministry said earlier.
* Reuters and Agence France-Presse
