SEOUL, Aug. 1 (UPI) — North and South Korean military officials agreed to test withdrawing troops from guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone.
At the general-level military talks on Tuesday, the North and South agreed to pull out troops at guard stations in the DMZ on a trial basis and conduct a joint excavation of soldiers’ remains in the area, according to local media reports.
Such steps are part of the pledge made between the North and South at the April 27 summit to reduce military tensions.
“The South and North agreed on a bigger picture to implement such measures,” Kim Do-gyun, South Korean chief negotiator in charge of North Korea policy at the Ministry of Defense, told reporters after the meeting, Chosun Ilbo reported.
North and South officials shared an understanding in starting with the test withdrawal of troops from guard posts and eventually pulling out troops completely.
The officials found differences in other issues related to disarming the DMZ and also creating a joint fishing area at the disputed sea border on the western coast.
“At the talks, the pending issues in defusing the military tension and removing the danger of a war on the Korean Peninsula were sincerely discussed and there was an agreement to continue discussing and settling the necessary issues in the future,” North Korea’s state media agency KCNA reported Wednesday.
