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 Under an accord reached in the early hours, following more than
two days of talks, North Korea expressed regret over the recent
wounding of South Korean soldiers in landmine blasts and Seoul
agreed to halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts.
North Korea also agreed to end the "semi" 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.
Both sides began rolling back heightened military postures at noon
(0300 GMT), Seoul's defense ministry said.
"It is very meaningful that from this meeting North Korea apologized
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 South Korean President Park Geun-hye,
who headed Seoul's delegation.
Pyongyang had denied laying the landmines, and in the statement did
not explicitly take responsibility for them. However, any expression
of regret by the North, better known for its bellicose rhetoric, is
rare.
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.
"They both made compromises. South Korea did not get an apology,
they got a statement of regret about the injury, which they can spin
as an apology," said John Delury of Yonsei University in Seoul.
"The more important point is maintaining this channel and reopening
the relationship. This is hardly going to be easy to implement, but
it’s a landmark agreement which lays out a path."
Seoul and Pyongyang have remained technically in a state of war
since the 1950-53 Korean war ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
THAW?
Inter-Korean relations have been all but frozen since the 2010
sinking of a South Korean warship, which killed 46 sailors, that
Seoul blames on the North. Pyongyang denies responsibility.
On Tuesday, the two sides also agreed to arrange reunions of
families separated by the Korean War during upcoming autumn holidays
and in future.
"What's important now is to carry forward specific projects agreed
by South and North smoothly through follow-up talks so as to ease
tensions between South and North," Park's presidential office quoted
her as saying.
Halfway through a single five-year term that has been buffeted by
crises and a stumbling economy, Park appears to have gotten a lift
from Seoul's tough stance with the North, with her approval rating
rising to 41 percent in a Realmeter poll conducted last week.
Improving ties with the reclusive and impoverished North have been
largely unsuccessful is one of Park's key goals. But her efforts, so
far, have been largely unsuccessful.
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Numerous sticking points remain, from the North's nuclear program
and Seoul's sanctions following the ship sinking. There have also
been comparatively minor sources of conflict, such as South Korean
activists distribution of anti-North leaflets and the suspension of
South Korean tours to Mount Kumgang in the North.
Asked early on Tuesday about the prospect for a summit meeting
between Park and the North's young leader, Kim Jong Un, the South's
national security adviser said it was "not the time" to discuss
that.The two Koreas have not held a summit since 2007.
LANDMINES AND LOUDSPEAKERS
The rise in tensions began early this month, when the landmine
explosions in the DMZ wounded two South Korean soldiers.
Days later, the South began blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda from
loudspeakers along the border, reviving a tactic that both sides had
halted in 2004.
The standoff 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.
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.
Even as talks were proceeding, North Korea deployed twice the usual
artillery strength at the border and had around 50 submarines away
from base, the South's defense ministry said. South Korea had also
increased its military readiness.
Washington and the United Nations welcomed the agreement, as did
Beijing, Pyongyang's main ally.
"We're going to judge the North by its actions," U.S. State
Department spokesman John Kirby told a briefing. "It was a very
tense several days."
North Korea is under U.N. and U.S. sanctions because of repeated
nuclear and missile tests, moves that Pyongyang sees as an attack on
its sovereign right to defend itself.
(Additional reporting by Jack Kim and James Pearson in SEOUL,
Michelle Nichols in NEW YORK, David Brunnstrom and Lesley Wroughton
in WASHINGTON and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Paul Tait and
Simon Cameron-Moore)
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