Two Koreas, UN Command agree to remove firearms, guard posts from common border

North and South Korea and the US-led United Nations Command (UNC) have reached an agreement to withdraw firearms and guard posts from the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) village of Panmunjom, Seoul’s defense ministry says.

According to a statement released by the South Korean defense ministry, the three parties agreed to make the important move as early as coming Thursday, after they met in the heavily-fortified zone, situated on the common border of the two peninsular countries, on Monday.

“The two Koreas and the UNC agreed to take measures of withdrawing firearms and military posts from the JSA by Oct. 25, and for the following two days, the three parties will conduct a joint verification,” it said, adding that the three sides also “confirmed and evaluated the official completion of the demining operations.”

The ministry also vowed to carry out “continues efforts” aimed at disarming the JSA “without a hitch.”

Both countries have been removing landmines around the JSA since October 1, as part of an earlier agreement and on Monday they confirmed the completion of the 20-day demining operation at the talks with the UNC.

Last month, South’s President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed a deal at a summit in the North’s capital, Pyongyang, under which both sides agreed to halt military exercises, gradually remove landmines and guard posts within DMZ, and establish an extensive no-fly zone near their border.

At the time, both countries also agreed to take steps toward peace by turning the Korean Peninsula into a “land of peace without nuclear weapons and nuclear threats.”

The Koreas are technically still at war since 1953 since the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953, ended in a truce not a peace treaty, however, bilateral have improved significantly in the last year. The US-led UNC has overseen affairs in the DMZ since the end of the war.

In the first trilateral meeting earlier this month, both Pyongyang and Seoul agreed to commence reconnecting rail and road links. The move would allow reunions for families separated by the Korean War, and would pave the way for the potential co-hosting of the 2032 Summer Olympics.

In June, US President Donald Trump met Kim in a landmark summit in Singapore, during which both leaders agreed to work toward denuclearization of the peninsula.

The North had already taken several steps. The US has taken none.

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Pyongyang also agreed earlier this month to allow international inspectors into a missile engine test facility and the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site, according to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was on a visit to Pyongyang on October 8.

In return, the North is seeking relief from harsh international sanctions — mostly spearheaded by Washington — imposed on the country over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The White House, however, has not given any such relief. It has even blocked a move by Seoul to remove a broad trade and investment embargo imposed on the North in 2010.

According to US officials, Trump and Kim are likely to hold their second summit early next year to continue charting a way to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

The UN Security Council has imposed several rounds of crippling sanctions on North Korea since 2006 over Pyongyang’s military programs, which it has defended as a means of defense.

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