North Korean soldiers move to inspect a dismantled guard post inside the Demilitarized Zone, while a South Korean soldier stands guard in the central section of the border on Dec 12, 2018.

SEOUL - Soldiers from North and South Korea crossed into each other's territory peacefully for the first time on Wednesday (Dec 12), Seoul said, as they began checking the dismantlement of guard posts in the Demilitarised Zone.

The North invaded the South in 1950, triggering the Korean War, and Seoul went on to change hands four times as Pyongyang's Chinese-backed forces and the US-led UN troops supporting the South fought their way up and down the peninsula and back again.

The conflict ended in an armistice in 1953, leaving the two technically still in a state of war, but a rapid reconciliation has taken place this year.

The South's President Moon Jae-in and Mr Kim Jong Un, leader of the nuclear-armed North, agreed to remove a limited number of guard posts along their heavily-fortified frontier at a September summit in Pyongyang, among other measures.

North Korea blew up 10 of its facilities in November, while the South tore 10 down on its own side using excavators.

South Korean inspectors visited each of the guard posts on the North's side on Wednesday to make sure they had been dismantled and all firearms and troops removed, Seoul's Defence Ministry said.

North Korean inspectors carried out the same process at the South's bunkers in the afternoon, it added.

North Korean soldiers working near the Military Demarcation Line to construct a tactical road to support a joint war remains recovery project in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas in Cheorwon.

Video footage showed armed South Korean soldiers shaking hands with North Korean personnel at the military demarcation line in the centre of the DMZ, before crossing to the other side.

Led by the North Koreans, the Southerners walked along a path where the North's guard posts had once stood, soldiers from both sides taking photos and filming the process as they chatted.

"This marks the first time since the division that the soldiers of the North and South... are peacefully crossing the military demarcation line," the ministry said in a statement.

The North is known to have more guard posts - which include both surface structures and underground elements - and according to Yonhap news agency, it now has around 150 in the DMZ, with the South having about 50.

Despite its name, the area around the DMZ is one of the most fortified places on earth, replete with minefields and barbed-wire fences.

But under the plans to ease tensions agreed in Pyongyang, the two Koreas have demilitarised the border truce village of Panmunjom, leaving it manned by 35 unarmed personnel from each side.

Officially called the Joint Security Area (JSA), the enclave is the only spot along the 250-kilometre frontier where soldiers from the two Koreas and the US-led UN Command stand face-to-face.

The dovish Mr Moon has pursued a policy of engagement with the North, in increasing contrast to Washington, which insists pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it denuclearises. </s> INSIDE THE DEMILITARIZED ZONE -- Dozens of North and South Korean soldiers crossed over the world's most heavily armed border Wednesday as they inspected the sites of their rival's front-line guard posts to verify they'd been removed, part of inter-Korean engagement efforts that come amid stalled U.S.-North Korea nuclear disarmament talks.

It was the first time since the Demilitarized Zone was created in 1948 to divide the two Koreas that troops from either side crossed the demarcation line peacefully, South Korea's Ministry of Defense noted.

The inspections Wednesday were mostly symbolic -- the removals will leave South Korea with about 50 other DMZ posts and North Korea with 150, according to defense experts in South Korea, but they mark an extraordinary change in ties from last year, when North Korea tested a series of increasingly powerful weapons and threatened Seoul and Washington with war.

Soldiers from the two Koreas exchanged cigarettes and chatted as they inspected the dismantlement or disarmament of 22 guard posts -- 11 from each country -- inside the Demilitarized Zone that forms 155-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide border.

A small group of journalists was allowed to enter the zone to watch a South Korean team leave for a North Korean guard post Wednesday morning and a North Korean team come to a South Korean guard post later in the day.

Seven helmeted South Korean soldiers wearing backpacks, one carrying a camera and another a camcorder, approached the line separating the northern and southern sides of the DMZ. North Korean troops then walked in a row down a hill to meet them. The soldiers from the rival Koreas exchanged handshakes before moving up the hill together to go to the dismantled North Korean guard post.

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Other groups of South Korean soldiers simultaneously visited 10 other North Korean guard posts. They inspected whether the guard posts and any underground structures have been completely dismantled and whether all troops, weapons and other equipment have been withdrawn, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry.

Hours later, seven North Korean soldiers clad in olive-green uniforms crossed the same borderline and were then escorted by South Korean troops to the concrete and steel debris of a destroyed South Korean post. North Korean teams also visited 10 other South Korean sites.

South Korea's liberal president, Moon Jae-in, the driving force behind the current engagement effort, watched parts of the verification broadcast live at an underground bunker in Seoul. Moon called the work "a new milestone" in inter-Korean history that was "unimaginable in the past," according to his office.

North Korean soldiers allowed South Korean soldiers to use stethoscope-like equipment to inspect whether there were any underground tunnels below the site, South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters.

The Demilitarized Zone was originally created as a buffer between the countries at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. But contrary to its name, the DMZ has become the world's most heavily fortified frontier after the rival Koreas planted an estimated 2 million mines, deployed combat troops and heavy weapons and set up layers of barbed wire fences.

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When the leaders of the Koreas met in Pyongyang in September, they agreed to lower military tensions along their border, including the withdrawal of some DMZ guard posts, halting live-fire exercises near the border, demilitarizing their shared border village of Panmunjom and removing mines at a DMZ area to launch joint searches for Korean War dead.

Conservatives in South Korea have criticized the deals, saying Seoul shouldn't have agreed to such conventional arms reduction programs because North Korea's nuclear threat remains unchanged.

U.S.-led nuclear diplomacy aimed at stripping North Korea of its nuclear program has reported little progress since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump met for a summit in Singapore in June. North Korea has made a vague disarmament pledge, and some experts say the North's turn to diplomacy after last year's string of weapons tests is aimed at weakening U.S.-led sanctions. </s> Seoul: Soldiers from North and South Korea crossed into each other’s territory peacefully for the first time on Wednesday, Seoul said, as they began checking the dismantlement of guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone.

 The North invaded the South in 1950, triggering the Korean War, and Seoul went on to change hands four times as Pyongyang’s Chinese-backed forces and the US-led UN troops supporting the South fought their way up and down the peninsula and back again.

 The conflict ended in an armistice in 1953, leaving the two technically still in a state of war, but a rapid reconciliation has taken place this year.

 The South’s President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un, leader of the nuclear-armed North, agreed to remove a limited number of guard posts along their heavily-fortified frontier at a September summit in Pyongyang, among other measures.

 North Korea blew up 10 of its facilities in November, while the South tore 10 down on its own side using excavators. South Korean inspectors visited each of the guard posts on the North’s side on Wednesday to make sure they had been dismantled and all firearms and troops removed, Seoul’s defence ministry said.

 North Korean inspectors carried out the same process at the South’s bunkers in the afternoon, it added. Video footage showed armed South Korean soldiers shaking hands with North Korean personnel at the military demarcation line in the centre of the DMZ, before crossing to the other side.

 Led by the North Koreans, the Southerners walked along a path where the North’s guard posts had once stood, soldiers from both sides taking photos and filming the process as they chatted. “This marks the first time since the division that the soldiers of the North and South… are peacefully crossing the military demarcation line,” the ministry said in a statement.

 The North is known to have more guard posts — which include both surface structures and underground elements — and according to Yonhap news agency it now has around 150 in the DMZ, with the South having about 50. Despite its name, the area around the DMZ is one of the most fortified places on earth, replete with minefields and barbed-wire fences.

 But under the plans to ease tensions agreed in Pyongyang, the two Koreas have demilitarised the border truce village of Panmunjom, leaving it manned by 35 unarmed personnel from each side. Officially called the Joint Security Area (JSA), the enclave is the only spot along the 250-kilometre (155-mile) frontier where soldiers from the two Koreas and the US-led UN Command stand face to face. (AFP) </s> SEOUL: Soldiers from North and South Korea are set to verify the dismantlement of guard posts in the demilitarised zone Wednesday (Dec 12), Seoul said, after crossing into each other's territory peacefully for the first time.

The removal of 20 posts along the heavily-fortified frontier was one of the steps agreed at a September summit between the South's President Moon Jae-in and the North's leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, part of a rapid reconciliation drive on the peninsula.

In November, North Korea blew up the 10 facilities while the South tore down 10 on its own side using excavators.

Seoul's defence ministry said early Wednesday that South Korean inspectors will visit each of the guard posts on the North's side to verify their dismantlement and to ensure that all firearms and troops have been removed.

North Korean inspectors will carry out the same process at the South's bunkers, it added.

"This marks the first time since the division that the soldiers of the North and South ... are peacefully crossing the military demarcation line," the ministry said in a statement.

The dovish Moon has pursued a policy of engagement with its isolated, nuclear-armed neighbour, in increasing contrast to Washington, which insists pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it denuclearises.

Despite its name, the area around the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) is one of the most fortified places on earth, replete with minefields and barbed-wire fences.

But under plans to ease tensions agreed in Pyongyang, the two Koreas have demilitarised the border truce village of Panmunjom, leaving it manned by 35 unarmed personnel from each side.

Officially called the Joint Security Area (JSA), the enclave is the only spot along the 250km frontier where soldiers from the two Koreas and the US-led UN Command stand face to face. </s> SEOUL: Soldiers from North and South Korea crossed into each other’s territory peacefully for the first time on Wednesday, Seoul said, as they began checking the dismantlement of guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone.

The North invaded the South in 1950, triggering the Korean War, and Seoul went on to change hands four times as Pyongyang’s Chinese-backed forces and the US-led UN troops supporting the South fought their way up and down the peninsula and back again.

The conflict ended in an armistice in 1953, leaving the two technically still in a state of war, but a rapid reconciliation has taken place this year. The South’s President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un, leader of the nuclear-armed North, agreed to remove a limited number of guard posts along their heavily-fortified frontier at a September summit in Pyongyang, among other measures.

North Korea blew up 10 of its facilities in November, while the South tore 10 down on its own side using excavators. South Korean inspectors visited each of the guard posts on the North’s side on Wednesday to make sure they had been dismantled and all firearms and troops removed, Seoul’s defence ministry said. </s> In scenes that would have been unthinkable just a year ago, soldiers from North and South Korea shake hands across their joint border.

Officials crossed into each other’s territories peacefully for the first time as they began to dismantle guard posts in the demilitarised zone.

The North invaded the South in 1950, triggering the Korean War.

The conflict ended in an armistice in 1953, leaving the two sides technically still in a state of war.

However this year there has been a rapid reconciliation and moves have been made to demolish a number of guard posts along their heavily-fortified frontier.

The North exploded 10 of its facilities while its southern neighbour excavated a further ten on their side.

It is the first step in a military pact reached in September between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Today teams from each of the countries inspected the other side’s work, looking for secret tunnels where firearms could have been hidden.

A statement read: ‘This marks the first time since the division that the soldiers of the North and South are peacefully crossing the military demarcation line.’

A year ago, such a joint operation by some 77 officials from the two sides would have been unthinkable.

North Korea’s repeated missile tests and its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in September 2017, in defiance of U.N. and U.S. warnings, had stirred fears of war.

But things have changed at a head-spinning pace over the past 12 months.

In a New Year message last year, Kim extended an olive branch to old enemy South Korea, then sent a team to the Winter Olympics there in February, and held three summits with Moon over the course of the year.

Kim also met U.S. President Donald Trump for an unprecedented summit in Singapore in June.

Moon said the removal of the border guard posts and Wednesday’s two-way verification exercise marked a ‘new milestone’ in the 65-year division of the peninsula.

‘It’s something we couldn’t even imagine in the past that the South and the North build trails in the Demilitarised Zone where they confronted each other, and pull out the guard posts and transparently verify it,’ Moon told aides after watching a broadcast of the inspection.

He added that the atmosphere was ‘cordial’ and soldiers chatted and shared cigarettes.

Moon is hoping to host Kim in Seoul for their fourth summit, perhaps as early as this month, but North Korea has been aloof amid stalled nuclear talks with the United States. </s> Dozens of North and South Korean soldiers have crossed over the world’s most heavily armed border as they inspected the sites of rival frontline guard posts to verify they had been removed.

The checks were part of Korean engagement efforts that come amid stalled US-North Korea nuclear disarmament talks.

Soldiers from the two Koreas exchanged cigarettes and chatted as they inspected the dismantlement or disarmament of 22 guard posts — 11 from each country — inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that forms their 155-mile long border.

The inspections were mostly symbolic, as the removals will leave South Korea with about 50 other DMZ posts and North Korea with 150, according to defence experts in South Korea.

But they mark an extraordinary change in ties from last year, when North Korea tested a series of increasingly powerful weapons and threatened Seoul and Washington with war.

A small group of journalists was allowed to enter the zone to watch a South Korean team leave for a North Korean guard post and a North Korean team come to a South Korean guard post later in the day.

Seven helmeted South Korean soldiers approached the line separating the northern and southern sides of the DMZ.

North Korean troops then walked in a row down a hill to meet them. The soldiers from the rival Koreas exchanged handshakes before moving up the hill together to go to the dismantled North Korean guard post.

Other groups of South Korean soldiers simultaneously visited 10 other North Korean guard posts.

They inspected whether the guard posts and any underground structures have been completely dismantled and whether all troops, weapons and other equipment have been withdrawn, according to Seoul’s Defence Ministry.

Hours later, seven North Korean soldiers clad in olive-green uniforms crossed the same borderline and were then escorted by South Korean troops to the concrete and steel debris of a destroyed South Korean post. North Korean teams also visited 10 other South Korean sites.

South Korea’s liberal president, Moon Jae-in, the driving force behind the current engagement effort, watched parts of the verification broadcast live at an underground bunker in Seoul.

Mr Moon called the work “a new milestone” in inter-Korean history that was “unimaginable in the past”.

North Korean soldiers allowed South Korean soldiers to use stethoscope-like equipment to inspect whether there were any underground tunnels below the site, South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters.

The Demilitarised Zone was originally created as a buffer between the countries at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. But contrary to its name, the DMZ has become the world’s most heavily fortified frontier after the rival Koreas planted an estimated 2 million mines, deployed combat troops and heavy weapons and set up layers of barbed wire fences.

When the leaders of the Koreas met in Pyongyang in September, they agreed to lower military tensions along their border, including the withdrawal of some DMZ guard posts, halting live-fire exercises near the border, demilitarising their shared border village of Panmunjom and removing mines at a DMZ area to launch joint searches for Korean War dead. </s> The following content is sourced from external partners. We cannot guarantee that it is suitable for the visually or hearing impaired.

This content was published on October 1, 2018 7:28 AM

South Korean President Moon Jae-in speaks to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a luncheon, in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 21, 2018. KCNA via REUTERS

SEOUL (Reuters) - Troops from North and South Korea began removing some landmines along their heavily fortified border on Monday, the South's defence ministry said, as part of a pact to reduce tension and build trust on the divided peninsula.

Project details were agreed during last month's summit in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, between its leader, Kim Jong Un, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

In a statement, the ministry said the two sides agreed to remove all landmines in the so-called Joint Security Area (JSA) in Panmunjom within the next 20 days, with military engineers performing the hazardous task on the South Korean side.

There was no immediate confirmation from North Korea that its troops had begun the process.

The deal also provides for removal of guard posts and weapons from the JSA to follow the removal of the mines, with the troops remaining there to be left unarmed.

The JSA is the only spot along the 250-km (155-mile) -long "demilitarised zone" (DMZ) where troops from both Koreas are face to face, and it is also staffed by United Nations troops.

In November 2017, North Korean troops at the JSA shot one of their soldiers defecting to the South five times.

Since then, however, it has been the scene of the first dramatic April summit between Kim and Moon, as well as their second, more low-key meeting, in May.

At the April summit, the two Koreas announced their intention to turn the DMZ - long a symbol of tension and division - into a "peace zone."

They have already dismantled propaganda loudspeakers and some guard posts along the border.

Demining projects are also set to begin on Monday in Gangwon province in eastern South Korea, to allow teams to search for the remains of soldiers killed in the 1950-1953 Korean War, the ministry added.

More than a million landmines were laid in border areas including the DMZ and the Civilian Control Zone in the South, say demining experts, and civilians and soldiers alike have been killed or injured by them.

In 2015, two South Korean soldiers were maimed by what Seoul said was a North Korean landmine, an accusation the North denied. </s> (SEOUL, South Korea) — South Korea began clearing mines from two sites inside the heavily fortified border with North Korea on Monday under tension-reducing agreements reached this year. Seoul says North Korea is expected to do the same.

The development comes amid renewed international diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program after weeks of stalemated negotiations. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is to visit Pyongyang this month to try to set up a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

South Korean troops entered the Demilitarized Zone on Monday morning to remove mines around the border village of Panmunjom and another frontline area where the rivals plan their first joint searches with North Korea for soldiers during the 1950-53 Korean War, according to Seoul’s Defense Ministry.

The South Korean troops will try to focus on taking out mines on the southern parts of Panmunjom’s Joint Security Area and the so-called “Arrow Head Hill,” where one of the fiercest battles during the Korean War happened. Seoul officials believe the remains of about 300 South Korean and U.N. forces are in the Arrow Head Hill and likely many Chinese and North Korean remains too.

South Korean Defense Ministry officials said they couldn’t immediately confirm whether North Korea also began demining on the northern parts of the two sites. But they said they expected the North to abide by the tension-easing deals their defense chiefs struck on the sidelines of their leaders’ summit last month in Pyongyang.

Aiming to reduce conventional military threats, the Koreas’ defense chiefs also agreed to withdraw 11 frontline guard posts by December and set up buffer zones along their land and sea boundaries and a no-fly zone above the borderline to prevent accidental armed clashes.

About 2 million mines are believed to be peppered inside the Koreas’ 248-kilometer (155-mile)-long Demilitarized Zone that was originally created as a buffer zone at the end of the Korean War. The DMZ is the world’s most heavily fortified border that is also guarded by hundreds of thousands of combat troops, barbed wire fences and tank traps on both sides.

Many experts say the fate of inter-Korean deals can be affected by how nuclear negotiations would go between the United States and North Korea. Past rapprochement efforts were often stalled after an international standoff over the North’s nuclear ambitions intensified.

After provocative tests of three intercontinental ballistic missiles and a powerful nuclear weapon last year, North Korea entered talks with the United States and South Korea earlier this year, saying it’s willing to deal away its expanding nuclear arsenal. Kim Jong Un has subsequently held a series of summits with U.S., South Korean and Chinese leaders and taken some steps like dismantling his nuclear-testing site.

Nuclear diplomacy later came to a standstill amid disputes over how genuine North Korea is about its disarmament pledge. But Trump, Pompeo and other U.S. officials have recently reported progress in the denuclearization discussions with the North. Pompeo is to make his third trip to North Korea soon for talks.
Soldiers from North Korea and South Korea peacefully cross the Korean Demilitarized Zone for the first time since it was created in 1953.