South North Korea Deal Agree To Reduce Tensions

South Korea has halted its propaganda broadcasts into North Korea, as part of the agreement between the two countries to defuse tension.

Landmine blasts, loudspeakers blaring propaganda, an exchange of artillery fire and threats of more hostilities had put both sides on edge along the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), the world’s most heavily fortified border.

But after marathon talks between high-level officials, the two bitter foes said in the early hours of Tuesday that they had found enough common ground to dial back the situation.

Seoul had begun the loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts, which infuriates Pyongyang, after a landmine at the border injured two of its soldiers earlier this month.

The truce was reached after the North, which initially denied planting the mine, agreed to express “regret”.

The late-night agreement came after high-level talks at the “truce village” of Panmunjom inside the DMZ.

The North agreed to end its “semi-state of war”, and pull back troops deployed to the frontline.

Both countries have also agreed to work towards a resumption of reunions for families separated during the 1950-53 Korean war.

The agreement “reduces the risk of a miscalculation with so many forces on the ground there and room for an error,” the Executive Director of the Ploughshares Fund, Philip Yun, said.

“This is really good news over the short term”, he added.

The Ploughshares Fund is a group that advocates nuclear disarmament.